The Loyalty of a Hufflepuff: First Year
by MusicalGeek12
Summary: Elizabeth Macmillan, preferred name Lizzie, is starting at Hogwarts in September. In the same year as Harry, her time at Hogwarts is fairly eventful, but she's friends with Draco Malfoy rather than any of the Golden Trio. Just wanted to experiment with the books from a different point of view. I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so this is my first real attempt at anything other than one-shots so I really hope you like it and if not then please help me improve instead of just criticising this.**

Lizzie's blonde, curly hair bounced against her shoulders as she bounded down the stairs to join her family for breakfast. She jumped the last two, stumbled on her landing and fell into her brother, Ernie.

He was her twin brother really, but just calling him her brother was less of a mouthful. They were the same age and obviously shared the same birthday which clearly indicated that they were twins.

This being said the only physical characteristics they really shared were the fact that they had blonde hair and were a similar height. But the fact was that they were only 10, so this could change over the years to come.

Luckily for Lizzie, Ernie caught her as she crashed into him to prevent her from falling to the floor.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, an amused look on his face.

"Going to breakfast, what does it look like I'm doing?" she replied.

"Well it looks like you're trying to see how quickly you can break something."

Lizzie laughed at that, "if I remember rightly, you're the only one who's broken a bone out of the two of us."

Ernie glared at her and shoved her lightly in the direction of the dining room. "I'm going, I'm going", Lizzie laughed as she skipped along the corridor to find food and her parents.

Upon entering the dining room, Lizzie glanced around and found both her parents already seated at either end of the long table. Her father appeared to be reading the Daily Prophet, whilst her mother was reading yet another novel.

"You can steal that once she's finished it", Lizzie heard Ernie whisper in her ear as he marched past her to take a seat at the dining table.

She rolled her eyes and followed him, walking round to the opposite side of the table, and sitting down before pulling some toast towards her and starting to nibble on the edge of it.

Breakfast continued in the same silence that it had started in, Ernie and Lizzie occasionally exchanging glances showing the confusion they both felt at their parent's lack of voice this morning. Even though their parents were never the most talkative at breakfast time, preferring to wait until dinner to discuss anything that passed during the day, they would normally politely ask how both children had slept which would then show Ernie and Lizzie that they were allowed to talk. The fact that this had not happened meant Lizzie was too nervous to speak, having grown up being told that she should not speak unless spoken to.

Lizzie had just finished her toast and was about to eat some egg when her father sighed and placed the newspaper down on the table.

Automatically Lizzie sat up straight and turned her head to face him, waiting for him to begin whatever he had to say. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Ernie had done the same.

Robert Macmillan glanced at both of his children before meeting his wife's eye and opening his mouth.

"As you are both aware, your mother and I are invited to the annual Malfoy summer ball every year."

Lizzie had to bite her lip to prevent herself from commenting on how annual parties do tend to happen every year.

Her father continued, "now that you are both going to be starting at Hogwarts come September, your mother and I felt that it would be appropriate for you to attend this year with us."

Lizzie risked a look at Ernie to see his reaction. He caught her eye and grinned at her, before looking back to their father.

"Your mother and I have a reputation to uphold. We are taking a huge risk with bringing you both to this event. Elizabeth, you will be expected to make a good pureblood marriage, the foundations of that begin this year."

Once more, Lizzie had to bite her lip to prevent herself from making a comment (or screaming) at her father.

"Ernest, you are also expected to make a good pureblood match but first and foremost we wish you to try and start a friendship with Draco Malfoy."

At this Lizzie rolled her eyes, of course, the precious little Malfoy boy.

"Making friends with him would put you in good stead for your life at Hogwarts and would give our family further elevation in the pureblood community."

"However," Lizzie's mother began, causing Lizzie to turn her head so quickly she almost cricked her neck, "this does not mean to say we want you to focus your entire evening on either of these things" she said with a glare at her husband.

"Well no, obviously not" Robert replied, rather sheepishly. "We just need you to both be aware of some of the expectations being placed on you now that you are old enough to be formally introduced into the community."

"Precisely", Lizzie's mother agreed.

"Now, I have work to do so you are all going to have to excuse me. Sophia, if you would join me in my office once you have finished breakfasting, I need to discuss some household matters with you."

Lizzie's father stood up from the table and walked out of the dining room, only to be followed by her mother a few minutes later.

Lizzie stilled and listened for both set of footsteps to die away before she began to speak about what had just happened.

"Ernie, we are going to the summer ball! Can you believe it? That's so exciting! I wonder what I'll get to wear. Do you think mother would be willing to persuade father to let me have new dress robes? Oh, and I'll get to make new friends. Now that you're not good enough, it would just be nice to have other friends."

But then it dawned on her what was being asked of her for the evening…

"Except I can't make new friends without it being seen as 'potential foundations for future marriages" she blew a raspberry, "I'm 10! What do I care about marriage?!"

Her brother laughed and shook his head at her, "you can make friends, you just need to know that at some point you will need to consider the fact that you need to get married."

Lizzie let out a noise of exasperation and stood up, "fine, I guess I'll just go start planning my marriage, and deciding what I'm going to call my kids."

"You're going to go read aren't you?"

"No, I'm going to go plan my marriage."

"Where?"

Lizzie paused, "the library…"

"Using what books?"

Another pause. "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."

"Thought so."

"Whatever", and with that Lizzie skipped out of the room.


	2. Chapter 2

The evening of the summer ball came about much sooner than Lizzie could have hoped for (25th July to be exact, as it marked the middle of summer apparently, Lizzie wasn't so sure it did). Her father had been very willing to let her get new dress robes for the occasion and had insisted she wear green. Lizzie was fine with this because it matched her eyes and was one of her favourite colours, but she also knew that this was to appeal to the Malfoys and the other major pureblood families who were primarily Slytherins.

Her and Ernie had discussed the tasks given to them by the parents in much detail, always coming back to the same conclusion: their parents wanted the best for their family and they should try and do their best to listen to their guidance.

 _"But, Ernie, I don't understand why I have to start thinking about marriage now", Lizzie whined for what seemed like the tenth time that day._

 _As he had at all these other times, Ernie let out an exasperated sigh, "because we need to try and improve our family standing in the pureblood community."_

 _"Well yes I've gathered that. But why?"_

 _"If you spent half the time you spent reading actually reading something useful then you'd know."_

 _Lizzie glared at him for that. "I do spend time reading something useful! I know much more than you do about magical creatures, and about plants, and about Hogwarts' history!"_

 _"That's all very well, but you don't understand the pureblood community which we live in."_

 _"How much do I need to understand? We're all families of purely magical folk, hence the pureblood title. A lot of them are also really stuck up and I'm wondering if that's in the blood too?"_

 _"No! That is not in the blood and you cannot say that!"_

 _Lizzie rolled her eyes, "well obviously, I'm not stupid."_

 _Ernie sighed again and walked over to where his sister was laying on the carpet next to the sofa, why she did that he would never understand. Upon reaching her, he sat down next to her and leaned against the sofa. "Years ago the Macmillan family was not highly thought of within the Pureblood community…"_

 _Lizzie used the pillow her head was laying on to hit Ernie in the knees, "please skip the lecture."_

 _He glared at her, "fine. We used to be considered blood traitors because we were not very supportive of He Who Must Not Be Named. However, Melania Macmillan married Arcturus Black III and raised our family's status in the pureblood community. As we are now associated with the Black's we are able to be invited to functions much like the Malfoy's summer ball."_

 _"Okay, I get all that, but why does that mean I have to make a good pureblood marriage and you need to make friends with Draco?" Lizzie looked up at her brother, confusion filling her eyes._

 _Ernie moved from the sofa onto the floor, and took her hand. "It just means that our parents are worried we could be effected in the future because we could be once more viewed as blood traitors. A good pureblood marriage would mean that you will never be at risk and being friends with Malfoy would mean that I have some back up if we were to once more be considered traitors."_

 _"Oh, I didn't know."_

 _"No, they've never really explained it to us."_

 _The siblings were silent for a minute._

 _"So it's actually a good thing that you spend your time reading up on our family's history?"_

 _"Yes, because at least I understand what's going on."_

 _"That's not fair, I understand now because you've told me."_

 _"Yes but without me you wouldn't understand."_

 _"I… that's what I just said!"_

 _They grinned at each other._

 _Lizzie sat up and faced her brother, "can we agree, that you'll help me meet any potential future matches, and I'll help you make friends with Draco Malfoy?"_

 _Ernie held is hand out, "shake on it?"_

 _Lizzie stared at his hand, "I'm your sister, I don't think we need to shake on it."_

 _"It's the correct thing to do when making an agreement."_

 _Lizzie shook her head at him, "fine then", and shook his hand._

That's not to say either of them were happy with this outcome.

As Lizzie finished getting ready for the ball, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her dress robes were gorgeous, a green, silk material that matched her eyes. Unfortunately her eyes didn't have their usual sparkle, giving off a sad gleam at the prospect of having to try and meet her future husband tonight.

She didn't want to disappoint her parents, and she knew that she would do her best tonight so their worries could subside slightly. But again, that didn't mean she was happy about it.

She walked down the stairs to join her family before they apparated to Malfoy Manor (her and Ernie obviously would use side-along apparition to get there since they weren't of age yet). Her mother was wearing pale coral dress robes, also made of silk, and looked up at Lizzie with obvious pride in her eyes. The look gave Lizzie a warm feeling inside, like she could actually live up to the expectations her parents had in her.

Both her father and her brother were wearing black dress robes, as most of the men at the ball would also be wearing. Her brother gave Lizzie a huge grin when he saw her and she remembered their agreement, it reassured her to know that he would be there for her that night. Her father on the other hand merely glanced at her, saying that "you look adequate for this evening, hopefully some young men will take an interest in you". However, Lizzie shook that comment off and gracefully walked down the stairs to stand beside her mother, who she would be apparating alongside of.

Her father and Ernie apparated away before Lizzie had even reached her mother. Once she did, her mother took her hand and squeezed it, "don't listen to your father, you look beautiful and all you need to do tonight is to enjoy yourself."

Lizzie smiled weakly, "thank you, mother".

Sophia smiled once more, before turning on the spot and apparating them both to join Ernie and her father.


	3. Chapter 3

They appeared at the end of the driveway to Malfoy Manor, apparently the ball wasn't enough reason to let down the wards. Luckily they were saved from walking up the driveway as there were carriages waiting to take them up to the front doors.

As Lizzie and her family approached the open gates, a dark, open topped carriage pulled up to allow them to enter. As they climbed up and sat down, Lizzie glanced around at what she could see in the dimming light. The driveway itself was gravel with a hedge running along its edge.

'If the outside shows anything about this place, I don't understand why it's such a huge deal' Lizzie thought to herself as the carriage began to move along the driveway.

However, she was proved wrong when Ernie nudged her and nodded to an albino peacock walking along the top of the hedge.

'Okay, maybe it is rather fancy' she thought.

Once they arrived at the front doors, Ernie and her father descended from the carriage first before helping her and her mother step down too. Her father briefly shot Lizzie and Ernie a glance which clearly showed they needed to remember what he had previously asked of them, to which Lizzie had to hold in an eye roll.

As they all walked in, Lizzie couldn't help but stare at the décor. The hallway they were in was well lit, highlighting the magnificent carpet on the floor, and portraits covering the walls. She now understood why the Malfoy family are one of the most powerful in the pureblood community; they obviously had a great deal of money if their hallway was this lavishly decorated.

Of course, she knew that they were wealthy enough to not have to actually work at all, but she never quite appreciated what that meant.

Lizzie felt a tug on her dress robes, when she looked down there was a house elf gazing up at her.

"Sirs and Misses, please follow Dobby to the ballroom" and with that the elf began walking down the hallway. Lizzie followed without a second thought and heard the rest of her family began walking after her and Dobby a second later.

Before too long Lizzie heard music coming from a little further down the hallway and then the ballroom came into view.

It was astounding.

The room itself was huge, and the ceiling was very high with three chandeliers spread along the length of the room. One of the walls had three windows along its length, at similar points to the chandeliers, providing a view of the gardens. However, on closer inspection the middle window had glass doors opening out onto a balcony overlooking the vast gardens at the manor. The other wall held portraits, much like the ones in the hallway. By the centre of this wall there was an orchestra area set up and here a string quartet was currently playing. You could see that a space had been left for dancing later, but none of the guests were yet taking advantage of this, preferring to mingle first.

"Sophia! Robert! You made it!" A voice called out, breaking Lizzie out of her reverie. She turned to see a blonde woman in silver dress robes gracefully making her way through the crowds to reach their family. Lizzie's father drew her and Ernie to stand slightly in front of him and her mother so that they would be seen by this woman coming closer. She paused in her journey towards them and gestured to someone Lizzie could not see. After doing this she continued walking towards them, now being followed by a blonde man.

"It's wonderful to see you both again", the women said, embracing Lizzie's mother, "are these your children?" she asked, glancing at Lizzie and Ernie.

"Yes" Lizzie's father eagerly put in, "this is Elizabeth," he placed his hand on Lizzie's shoulder, "and Ernest" he placed his other hand on Ernie's shoulder. Lizzie smiled politely up at the woman, before turning and doing the same to the man who had just joined them.

"Well at least they have good manners" the man remarked.

The woman laughed gently before looking directly at Lizzie and Ernie, "you must forgive my husband, he isn't used to meeting you people. I'm Narcissa Malfoy, and this is Lucius. Draco must be around here somewhere but some other families have brought their children so he's probably making friends."

Their father gave Lizzie and Ernie a subtle squeeze on each of their shoulders, "well why don't you two go and see if you can do the same."

"Yes, father" they both replied and moved into the room to do as they were told.

As they walked away Lizzie heard Mr Malfoy say "wonderfully obedient children you have there", it made her feel slightly sick.

"Go on", Lizzie turned to look at Ernie. "Go" he said, "get some air, I'll find them and get them to join you on the balcony". Lizzie threw Ernie a grateful look and walked as fast as she could without being rude to the balcony area.

It didn't take her long and soon she was breathing in the cool night air. She didn't know what had come over her. She knew the responsibility she had as a girl within a pureblood family (thanks to Ernie's lectures every week or so), and she was fine with it. She just hated how she had to act (as highlighted by Mr Malfoy's comment).

As the cool summer's breeze drifted past her, she felt herself calming down, but she couldn't quite bring herself to go back into the ballroom. Looking around her, she saw some steps to the left side of the balcony. She wandered towards them and noticed that they went down into the gardens. After making sure nobody was looking, as Lizzie wasn't quite sure that guests would be allowed down into the gardens, she ran down the steps and away from the ball.

'Sure' she thought, 'Ernie might not be best pleased to find that I've disappeared but I only want to explore, I'll go back soon.'

The gardens seemed big from the balcony, but that was nothing compared to how they appeared once you were actually in them. Lizzie could see a fountain rather close by and made for this to look at the carvings around the edge.

As she got closer she saw that they appeared to be telling of the labours of Hercules, if her knowledge of Greek mythology served her correctly. Lizzie found the one depicting the Ninth Labour: The Belt of Hippolyta and fell to studying this. It showed Hera walking among the Amazons, the Amazon women riding to confront Hercules on horseback, and finally Hercules killing Hippolyta to retrieve her belt.

Lizzie was so absorbed in these carvings that she didn't notice a pale, blonde boy walking up to join her at the fountain. In fact, she probably wouldn't have noticed him at all if he hadn't spoken to her, causing her to jump with fright.

"I've always preferred the Fifth Labour myself."

Lizzie turned to look at this new stranger, who appeared to be around her age.

"It's not that this one is my favourite," she said, slightly put out by the boy's attitude towards her, "I just wanted to look at the carvings and this one seemed one of the most detailed".

He nodded, as though understanding her reasoning. "I could show you some statues if you're interested in that as well?"

Lizzie nodded and followed him as he walked around the fountain, taking a path that wound its way between two hedges.

"Who are you, by the way?" the boy asked her after a minute of walking in silence.

"Liz-" she began, but stopped mid word, "Elizabeth Macmillan" she finished, knowing full well that her parents would rather she give her full name.

"Oh, that's nice" except he didn't sound like he thought so, "and I suppose you know who I am?"

"Not really, no."

He halted unexpectedly causing Lizzie to stumble so she avoided crashing into him, and turned so he was facing her. He held her gaze for a while, seeming to try and work out whether she was being serious or not.

"How can you not know who I am?"

"I've never met you before, last I checked that was an acceptable reason."

"Well I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

"It's nice to meet you Master Malfoy", Lizzie wasn't sure whether she should call him Master Malfoy or not but it seemed like a good idea since he smirked at her.

"You don't need to call me Master Malfoy, if you're here then you must be a pureblood and so we're on equal footing."

"Fine then, would you rather I called you Draco?"

"Either that or Malfoy, whichever takes your fancy," he turned back to continue heading down the path, "come along, there are some statues just down here."

Lizzie rolled her eyes at his sudden change in character but followed him nonetheless. She was interested in what these statues were.

Another minute or two passed in silence before they came to circle in the middle of hedges where 5 or 6 paths seemed to join together. At the centre of this joining there was a statue, not a very tall statue but it was still two or so feet taller than Lizzie. She gazed up at it in awe, as Draco once more smirked and stepped to the side to allow her to walk past him.

The statue itself was rather simple, it just being Aphrodite rising from sea foam, but there were little details added to make the statue much more intricate and complex. Her skirt had folds put into it, and wasn't hanging completely straight, to create the impression of a breeze lifting and moving it. There were three birds around her: one by the waves as though to make it seems like it was flying over the water; one was at the same height as Aphrodite's mid-thigh and appeared the be flying past her (although Lizzie could see it was simply done by working outwards from the statue); the final one was perched on Aphrodite's arm. The hair the statue had, much like the skirt, also seemed to be moving in a breeze and the detail that had gone into it made it seem as though there really were individual strands of hair covering her head.

Lizzie couldn't help but let out a gasp and the delicate details which made the statue seem almost realistic.

"Thought you'd like it," she could practically hear the smirk Draco had on his face at that moment.

"Yes, you obviously know me so well." Lizzie replied, the sarcasm practically dripping from her tone.

"You'd be surprised at how well I do know you."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

"Okay then, what makes you think you know me?"

"You're obviously trying to avoid something if you came down to the gardens. They're not prohibited during the ball but most guests prefer to stay where they could be the centre of attention."

Lizzie nodded for him to continue.

"You're obviously intelligent enough to understand the Labours of Hercules which makes me think you read quite a bit since not many pureblood families feel the need to teach mythology to their children."

Lizzie nodded again.

"That shows you're probably an only child, like me, whose parents don't spend much time with them, again like me."

Lizzie shook her head at this, "I have a twin brother, but he likes to read too."

"Which leads to my fourth point, not many friends. If you had friends you wouldn't spend so much time reading and you would probably still be in the ballroom."

Lizzie reluctantly nodded at this too.

"See, I know you quite well given that we've never met."

"Not really, all you've done is make assumptions based on similarities between us," Lizzie stated.

"It worked though," Draco smirked once again.

"It also means I know you just as well as you know me."

Draco scoffed.

"I do. I know you're avoiding something at the ball too. I know you're intelligent enough to know about mythology. I know you're an only child. I know you don't have many friends, and I'd hazarded a guess that this whole conversation is an attempt to make one." It was Lizzie's turn to smirk.

Draco looked slightly put out at this. "I have friends."

"But none who make staying in the ballroom bearable?"

"None of them are clever enough to hold an interesting conversation with me."

"You haven't tried to do that though, it seems all you've tried to do is insult me." This boy was beginning to make Lizzie quite angry, which is saying something considering how mild mannered she was usually.

He seemed slightly taken aback by this, "I wasn't trying to." His voice as he said this became much quieter, he appeared almost sorry. Almost.

"Good for you, but it came across that way."

"I'm," he paused, as though his next words were difficult to say, "sorry."

Lizzie looked at him, debating whether or not she could actually trust his apology.

"Alright, I accept your apology."

He grinned at her at that, "do you want me to give you a tour of the garden then? There's loads you'd like. My parents aren't around that much but they're big on the decorative stuff."

Lizzie couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm, "I'd love to, but I probably should get back, my brother will be wondering where I am."

Draco looked slightly put out by this, "okay then."

"There's nothing I can do about it, he said he'd come and find me soon."

"Okay then."

"There's no reason you can't stay with us as well."

He looked slightly more cheerful at that, "really? What's your brother like?"

Lizzie paused, unsure how to answer the question, "you'll see."

Draco nodded, "this way," and he proceeded to walk back the way they'd come. He was remarkably much more talkative on the way back, telling Lizzie all about the changes that were being done to a fountain about half a mile away in the garden, and the maze that was being grown (apparently it would be done for Christmas).

They'd just reached the bottom of the stairs leading up to the balcony when Lizzie heard Ernie's distinct tone of voice, "there you are!"

Lizzie had to fight back an 'oh crap' at that, obviously in his mind she had done something wrong.

"Come with me right now, our parents want to speak to you."

Lizzie couldn't help but roll her eyes at that, "I'm coming, I'm coming." She turned to face Draco, "bye Draco."

"Bye Elizabeth."

"I cannot believe you, wandering around the gardens when you should be making a good impression on the other families here tonight." Ernie was ranting, Lizzie just kept quiet as she knew it was best to allow him to.

"No thought for the fact that our parents are worried about our family's position in the pureblood community. If they're worried then obviously we have something to worry about." Lizzie rolled her eyes at that.

"What they're going to say when I tell then you completely ignored most of the ball."

At that Lizzie felt the need to respond, "what do you mean most of the ball?"

"The ball is ending soon, our parents want to leave."

That shocked Lizzie back into silence, she didn't realise she had been gone for so long.

Upon reaching their parents, Ernie went back to being quiet.

"Ah good, you're here." Lizzie's father was the first to spot them. "Your mother is just finishing her conversation with Narcissa and then we will be leaving as I have an early meeting in the morning."

Both children nodded, following their father as he began to walk to the front doors of the manor again. Sophia was waiting for them there and in silence the family walked out to get another carriage to the gates, where they would be able to apparate home.

Once they were settled into the carriage, Robert turned to both children and looked at them expectantly.

"Elizabeth? Ernest? Did you manage to meet anyone?"

Ernie jumped in, eager to clear his name of any blame. "I spent my time trying to find Draco Malfoy to make his acquaintance and become his friend."

"Well done, and Elizabeth? What did you do?"

Again, Ernie jumped in. "She spent her time wandering in the gardens, not making any effort to meet new people."

Lizzie wanted to thump him. He had completely thrown her under the bus. She looked at her father to see a quiet rage simmering in his eyes. "You spent your time wandering in the gardens?"

Lizzie took a calming breath before explaining herself. "I needed some air. I was only intending to stay there for a few minutes but then Draco found me and offered to give me a tour. I lost track of time and when we got back to the ballroom Ernie found me and told me that we were leaving."

Her father looked slightly taken aback by the fact that she had spoken up, but her mother interjected before he could say anything.

"Draco?"

"Malfoy."

"You met Draco Malfoy?"

"Yes."

"And spoke to him?"

"He spoke to me first, but yes."

Sophia looked at Robert, "I see no problem with that."

Robert nodded slowly, "well done, Elizabeth. You've done this family proud."

Lizzie glared at him, "I didn't do it for you."


	4. Chapter 4

It had been a few days since the summer ball and the pride Lizzie's parents felt over her making friends with Draco had quickly disappeared, mostly because she made it clear at every opportunity that it wasn't to raise the families' prospects.

She and Draco had continued speaking since the ball, only through owling but still. Lizzie wasn't sure if her parents knew this, but she was sure they would try and twist it so that she was somehow looking at him to be a potential husband. Which she wasn't. That wasn't even her denying any feelings, she just didn't see Draco in that way and given how rude he was to her when they first met she doubted she would ever see him that way. She wasn't holding a grudge though; it was simply something she wouldn't forget.

Breakfast was once more a rather subdued affair. Ernie was speaking about some old book he came across in the library, but Lizzie was only half listening. Her mind was on the last letter she received from Draco. He'd been talking about Hogwarts again.

 _I wonder what house you'll be in? I'll be in Slytherin. All my family have been. What house is your family mostly in? I've been owling Blaise Zabini, he's our age too, and he thinks he'll be in Slytherin too. I'll introduce you both when I can. He's reasonably clever too so you should be able to hold a decent conversation with him._

She wasn't quite sure why he thought she had the same view on intelligence as him.

 _It would be good if you were in Slytherin too. My mother made me meet some Parkinson girl and she was without a doubt one of the dullest people on the planet. Apparently her family has all been in Slytherin too so I'm going to have to spend the year avoiding her. She keeps owling me. I'm not replying but she doesn't seem to have got the message yet._

Lizzie had rolled her eyes at that. She may not consider Draco to be what she would want in a husband (God knows her parents kept on about it enough), but she knew that all pureblood families would consider Draco a good match for their daughters.

 _Do you think we'd be able to see each other before Hogwarts at all? I'm sure my mother would love to see yours' too so it could be a possibility. If we both speak to them then I'm positive we could sort something out._

Lizzie smiled at the memory of his letter. He was so eager, nothing she would have expected from him.

Her daydream was broken when Minky, their families' house elf, came into the room with a squeak of "letters have arrived sirs and misses". Lizzie's father took the letters from the elf with a nod and she ran out of the room again.

"Elizabeth, Ernest, you both have letters."

Both children rose from the table and walked to their father, collecting the letters delivered into the room by Minky. Ernie only had the one letter, whereas Lizzie had two. She recognised one of them as from Draco, his handwriting having become very familiar to her, but the other was new to her and Ernie had one near identical.

They both returned to their seats and opened the letter they had both received from an unknown source. It was their Hogwarts letter. Obviously both their parents already knew judging by the proud smiles on their faces.

Lizzie couldn't stop grinning as she read the letter.

 _HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

 _Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

 _Dear Miss Macmillan  
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Minerva McGonagall  
Deputy Headmistress_

She looked up at Ernie and met his gaze, they were both going to Hogwarts!

It wasn't that they thought they may not get in. They knew they would be going at some point. But even so, it was exciting to have got their letters.

"There should be another piece of paper in the envelope" their mother said.

Lizzie got it out to see what it said.

 _HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

 _Uniform  
First-year students will require:  
1\. Three sets of plain work robes (black)  
2\. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear  
3\. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
4\. One winter cloak (black, silver fastening)  
Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags_

 _Set Books  
All students should have a copy of each of the following:  
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk  
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot  
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling  
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch  
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore  
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger  
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander  
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble_

 _Other Equipment  
1 wand  
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
1 set glass or crystal phials  
1 telescope  
1 set brass scales_

 _Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad_

 _PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST-YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS_

"It's the list of equipment we need to get," Ernie said, also having just finished reading the second letter.

"Firstly you need to both send an owl confirming that you got a letter. Minky," Lizzie's father called and the house elf appeared in an instant, "get both children a quill and paper to write their confirmation letters with."

Minky nodded and disappeared with a pop, returning a few seconds later and putting a sheet of paper, ink, and a quill in front of Ernie before scurrying round the table to put the same in front of Lizzie.

She went to begin writing her letter confirmation but didn't know what to say. Ernie seemed to be having no problem so she kept her head down and tried again.

After a few minutes she had a letter composed, it was simple but it got the point across.

 _Dear Professor McGonagall_

 _I have received my Hogwarts and would very much like to attend._

 _Yours sincerely,  
Elizabeth Macmillan_

Lizzie passed the letter to Minky on her way out of the dining room, as did Ernie, and went upstairs to her room.

She'd been in her room reading for most of the morning when Lizzie heard a knock on the door and a small voice calling through the wood, "Miss Lizzie, Minky has a letter for you".

Lizzie rolled off the bed in favour of being normal and standing up, but then heaved herself up off of the floor and walked to the door, opening it to see Minky holding a letter and an owl on her head. She stepped aside to allow the elf into her room and giggled at the sight of Minky wandering in with Draco's owl swaying on top of her head.

"Thank you, Minky," Lizzie said, walking to sit at her desk as Minky followed her and placed the letter (and the owl) onto the desk beside her. Minky bowed her head and with a crack, disappeared out of the room.

Lizzie fed the owl a treat from a bag she now kept on her desk and opened Draco's letter.

 _Elizabeth,_

 _I received my Hogwarts letter today, I assume you did too. It's exciting isn't it? We're going to Hogwarts! And have you seen the books and things we need? Mother says we won't be learning too much in first year but we'll still be learning so I don't care. I think I'll probably be top in my class, although you might beat me in some subjects. Still, my family has a bigger library than yours'._

She hated when he did that, he just had to prove that he was richer and his family more important that hers'. Still, she knew that that kind of behaviour had been drilled into him by his father, he told her as much, so she couldn't get too mad. Besides, he had stopped doing it as much since she told him it made her feel uncomfortable.

 _When are you going to be going to Diagon Alley to get all the equipment? We're going on 31_ _st_ _July, so the day after tomorrow. It would be nice if you could go on the same day and then we could maybe see each other. I'm probably going to be meeting Blaise there too. I could introduce you both._

Lizzie sighed, he meant well and she was glad he wanted to introduce her to Blaise, but her parents would see it as another chance to raise their family's status.

 _Anyway, owl me back and we can work something out. I doubt your parents will object to you going to Diagon Alley on the 31_ _st_ _since it would be to meet me._

She'd confided in him the view her parents took on their friendship. He wasn't surprised and seemed intent on using his family name to manipulate her parents.

 _Yours faithfully, Draco_

You could tell he'd had a good upbringing from his letters, not that her's was all that different but even so. She'd have to speak to her parents before replying to his letter, and that wouldn't be able to happen until dinner that night.

Or did she?

She could just tell him when they were going to Diagon Alley later once she knew, and otherwise they could still owl during the day.

Yes, that was what she was going to do.

Dipping her quill into the ink pot, she began to write her reply.

 _Good morning to you too._

 _Yes, I did get my Hogwarts letter and I've sent back my confirmation. Of course I've seen the book and equipment lists, they look interesting so I'm looking forward to learning everything that comes with them. I'm also well aware your library is bigger than mine, there's no need to continuously point it out whenever the opportunity arises._

 _I'm sure you'll be somewhere near the top of your class, but try not to get too cocky or you could be in for a nasty shock. You never know who else will be in the same class as you._

Subtle hint that she could beat him, he should be smart enough to work that out.

 _Besides, I read much more than you do and actually retain the information._

 _I'll speak to my parents at dinner this evening, but as you say they should be okay with us going on the 31_ _st_ _. The Zabini family are pretty influential too as far as I can gather so if I mention you want to introduce me to Blaise then they'll almost definitely allow me to decide when we go._

 _If we do see one another in Diagon Alley then I'm going to properly introduce you to Ernie. Neither of you were the nicest to each other at your family's ball and I refuse to let that continue. We're all going to Hogwarts so you need to learn to play nice._

 _I'll let you know once I've spoken to my parents,_

 _Love Elizabeth_

She wasn't sure why she put love, it felt more personal than 'yours faithfully' but she did not mean anything by it.


	5. Chapter 5

As she and Draco had suspected, it was easy to convince her parents that they should go to Diagon Alley on July 31st so that she would be able to see Draco again and be introduced to Blaise. However, what hadn't been so easy was to get her parents to understand that she had no romantic interest in either of the boys and simply wanted to ensure she made friends before going to Hogwarts.

But apparently a 10 year old making friends was just a fancy way of indicating she wanted to marry them and have their children.

Lizzie was shocked her eyes weren't permanently turned skyward from the number of times she'd rolled them during dinner that night.

 _"Mother, father, could I ask you both something?" That was how the conversation had begun. Ernie gave her a queer look before turning back to his food and continuing to eat._

 _A nod from her father signalled that she could continue, "Draco owled me earlier and asked if it would be possible for us to go into Diagon Alley on the 31_ _st_ _and that's when he's going to be getting his supplies." Straight to the point was best, and opening with Draco meant that she would probably be given an answer quickly._

 _Her parents exchanged a look._

 _"Draco also mentioned that Blaise Zabini was going to be meeting him on the same day, he said he wished to introduce us to one another."_

 _Her parents exchanged another look before her mother began talking, "Elizabeth, obviously your father and I are incredibly proud of the friendship you have been forming with Draco Malfoy, but is forming a friendship with the Zabini boy the best idea for continuing this relationship with Draco."_

 _Lizzie just managed to hold in a sigh but rolled her eyes at that nonetheless, "Draco and I are friends. Nothing more. I have no intention of becoming anything more with him."_

 _Her father opened his mouth, before closing it again. 'It shouldn't come as a surprise to him', Lizzie thought, 'I've been saying the same thing every time Draco's name is brought up into conversation'._

 _Her mother continued speaking, "we don't feel as though you should completely rule that out though."_

 _Time for another eye roll._

 _Her father took over at this point, "of course, the Zabini family are also incredibly influential so if you were to have feelings for Blaise that would not be the worst thing in the world"._

 _And yet another._

 _She spoke up, noting Ernie was determinedly staring at his plate, "I have 10 years old. I do not want to be considering marriage right now."_

 _Ernie seemed to shrink in on himself at that point, she didn't blame him, he'd been trying to stay out of her constant argument with their parents over already considering her marriage prospects._

 _Neither of her parents replied to her comment and the rest of dinner passed without event, and without any more talking making it somewhat of an awkward affair._

Whatever had happened, she was going to Diagon Alley to meet Draco and Blaise later today.

Her father had some work issues come up on the morning of the 31st, leaving Ernie and Lizzie to be taken by just their mother that day.

Lizzie was just putting on her brown ankle boots when Ernie knocked on her door to make sure she was ready to leave for London soon.

"Come in," she called, lacing up the left one before starting on the right.

"Are you ready yet?" Ernie questioned, "it's almost 11."

Lizzie stood up and walked over the her mirror, checking that her outfit looked okay.

"Lizzie? Are you even listening to me?"

"Yes," she replied, turning away from the mirror, "and now I'm ready to go."

Ernie shook his head at her before turning and walking out into the hallway. Lizzie grabbed her coat and followed him, allowing them to walk downstairs together.

"How are you?" The question made Lizzie start in surprise, Ernie had been mostly keeping to himself over the past couple of days and hadn't spoken to her unless it was necessary.

"I'm good thank you, how are you?" She couldn't keep a slight tone of mistrust from creeping into her voice at the confusion she felt.

"I'm, ummm," Ernie stumbled over his words. He stopped walking, causing Lizzie to halt as well. His head was slightly bowed and she frowned in confusion at his behaviour.

"What's wrong, Ernie?" Lizzie softly asked her brother.

He hung his head and she heard some mumbling but couldn't make out any words.

"Ernie, I can't hear what you're trying to tell me if you don't speak like a normal person."

He looked at her and repeated his words, "I'm sorry for avoiding you the past couple of days."

That took her aback, "I didn't know you had been". She couldn't deny it, the words hurt her. Being avoided by anyone was bad enough, but being avoided by your twin…

"Oh," he seemed surprised by her reply, "I thought it was obvious, I haven't been speaking to you as much, and I haven't come to find you to bug you whilst you're reading."

Well now he said it all, she realised that yes, it had been somewhat obvious.

"Why were you avoiding me?"

A silence stretched out between them, Lizzie staring at Ernie, and Ernie trying to avoid her glare. Or it did until Ernie mumbled something.

Lizzie had to use all her self-control to stop herself from snapping at him, instead she let out a short breath and with gritted teeth asked him, "pardon?"

"Ididn'tlikethatyoumadefriendswithMalfoy." He said it so quickly she almost missed it, but she heard him and felt all her anger disappear to be replaced by amusement.

"So you were jealous?"

"A bit", so a lot. Lizzie had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing.

"Why?"

"I was meant to be the one to befriend him, I wanted to be able to introduce you to each other."

Lizzie let out a long sigh and shook her head at him, "that doesn't matter anymore, I'll introduce you to both him and Blaise properly today and then we can see how things go."

He slowly nodded and a small smile crept onto his face. Lizzie rolled her eyes at his childish nature (although they were both 10 so you couldn't fault him for being childish) and began walking towards the stairs again to meet their mother. She heard Ernie run after her after a few seconds and him call "race you", something they used to do when they were a few years younger, so she put on a spurt of speed in her attempt to beat him to their front door.


	6. Chapter 6

They arrived at the Leaky Cauldron by apparating to an alley way round the corner and walking to it. Lizzie wasn't really sure what she expected from the pub, but she found it cosy, even with the dark and shabby interior. To be honest, she didn't know why she liked it so much, she just did. There weren't too many people in the pub but enough to create a busy atmosphere.

As her mother walked through the pub, weaving between tables, Lizzie and Ernie's heads kept turning to try and see everything, to take everything in. Before too long they were out of the pub and in a small courtyard-like area.

"This doesn't look much like Diagon Alley", Ernie grumbled under his breath. Lizzie smirked at that, knowing full well that Ernie had no idea what Diagon Alley looked like.

Their mother shot him a look which clearly showed her amusement at his remark and took out her wand, tapping the wall three times before the middle bricks began to move and open to create an archway for them to walk through.

"That," their mother said, "is Diagon Alley."

Lizzie and Ernie followed Sophia as she stepped through the archway onto a cobbled street lined with shops. Lizzie couldn't quite believe that this place existed. There just seemed to be everything, and it was so big!

"Where are we going first?" Lizzie asked, looking up at her mother.

"We are going to go to," Lizzie's mother pulled out their Hogwarts' lists and glanced over the equipment listed, "Madame Malkins for your uniform. It's just this way," and with that she strode down the street, leaving Lizzie and Ernie to hurry after her.

Lizzie tried to look at everything they walked past but couldn't move her head quickly enough and almost tripped over when she did. She resigned to looking at one side of the street, promising herself she would concentrate on the other side when they were on their way back.

There was a cauldron shop, with a sign saying 'All Sizes – Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver – Self-Stirring – Collapsible' and underneath it were examples of those cauldrons. They shone brightly in the sun, although one got at just the right angle to slightly blind Ernie, causing him to stumble. Lizzie softly giggled to herself as he righted himself and kept walking as though nothing had happened.

A couple of shops on there was a sign saying 'Eeylops Owl Emporium – Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown and Snowy'. Lizzie and Ernie both stopped, and slowly walked towards the shop, following the soft hooting they heard from within.

"We'll come back and you can have a look if you really want," their mother said gently.

"Mother, could we have an owl? We're allowed to take one," Ernie begged.

Their mother smiled at them, "I'll think about it, but first we need to get your robes. Then we'll consider pets."

The twins nodded and followed their mother further down the street.

The next shop had magical instruments in it, causing Lizzie some confusion as she had no idea what some of them were.

After a minute or so Ernie and Lizzie became distracted again by another shop, this time a brightly coloured ice cream called Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. They looked at their mother, silently pleading to be allowed to go in but she simple shook her head and took both their hands, pulling them across the street into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occassions.

Lizzie dragged her feet slightly in a silent protest to not being allowed ice cream but soon stopped once her mother said that they could get one later.

As they entered the shop a short and smiling woman hurried towards them.

"Hello dears, do you need robes for Hogwarts? Just come right through and we'll get you fitted," she walked towards the back of the shop and gestured to two footstools.

Lizzie and Ernie each stepped on to one. Madam Malkin slipped a long robe over Lizzie's head, before doing the same to Ernie and calling another woman to help her. They began to pin the robes up, ensuring they were the right length for each twin.

"I was thinking I might go and get some of your other equipment for Hogwarts whilst you're being fitted for your robes," Sophia began, causing both children to look at her. "There's a lot to get and it would mean we could get home sooner, leaving you both with more time to spend with one another or doing something else."

"But I'm meant to be meeting Draco at some point," Lizzie whined. She hated how it made her sound like a 6 year old but, well she was only 10, and she wanted to see her friend.

"It could be that we miss him completely, you didn't decide a time or place did you?"

Lizzie hung her head, knowing full well that they had just assumed they would see each other. However, now she had seen Diagon Alley she knew that was unlikely. Still, she wanted to see Draco again because he understood her and he was her friend. Plus, she knew that she meant a lot to him since he wanted to introduce her to Blaise.

Sophia sighed, "I'm going to get and buy the books you both need, I'll leave some money with you both and you can go and get an ice cream at Florean Fortescue's after you've been fitted for robes."

Ernie grinned, "thank you mother."

Lizzie gave a small smile, "thank you mother."

Their mother smiled at both of them, "Madam I trust you can look after them whilst they're being fitted." Madam nodded and gave a smile as she continued to pin Ernie's robes to the correct length. "And I'll see you both either at the ice cream parlour or here, depending on how long we each take." She gave a final wave and walked out the shop, into the busy street.

Lizzie was quiet for a few seconds, before glancing at Ernie and seeing he had a huge smile plastered onto his face.

"Why so happy?" She asked, curiosity seeping into her voice.

He grinned at her again before finally speaking, "we get ice cream."

Lizzie rolled her eyes at that, turning her attention to the witch who was pinning the robes to the right length.

Before too long both their robes were pinned and the witches were hemming them to finish the fitting service. At this point the door opened again and another family walked in. Lizzie and Ernie were facing away from the door but Madame Malkin peered round Ernie to see who had come into the shop.

"I'll just be with you in one moment, Mr Malfoy, I've almost finished with this one."

Lizzie's head shot up at that and she tried to turn round to look, but wasn't able to as the witch fitting her robes clicked her tongue at her so she resigned to facing the right way until she was done. Luckily Draco had obviously noticed her attempt to turn around as, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed him slowly walking round to the side to see who it was.

"Elizabeth!" She could hear the smile in his voice as he said her name, and a smile slowly grew on her face at his exclamation.

"I really do wish you wouldn't call me that," she said, playfully rolling her eyes as she did so.

"Well what should I call you then?" His tone made it clear he was teasing her and so she huffed in response. Whatever she said he would still call her Elizabeth. They stared at each other for a minute or so, just smiling over the fact that they could spend time together again.

"That's you done, sweetie," the witch fitting Lizzie said, taking the robes off of her and helping her hop down from the footstool. "Up you get," she said, turning to Draco and walking off to get some more robes, both for Lizzie to take away and to be fitted for Draco.

"Where's your mother, dear?" Narcissa asked Lizzie in a kind tone.

"She's gone to get our books to save time later," Lizzie replied.

Narcissa nodded, "where are you meeting her?"

"At Florean Fortescue's."

Narcissa nodded again, "Draco, your father will go and get your books, I will look at wands for you. Stay with Elizabeth and Ernest, we'll meet you there as well."

Draco nodded eagerly and stepped onto the footstool to be fitted for his robes.

"That's you done, my dear," Madam Malkin said to Ernie as she took the robes off of him, giving them to the other witch to put with Lizzie's finished robes. "She'll be right with you, dear" she directed that at Draco before bustling into the back of the shop to finish some other task.

Narcissa gave a wave to Lizzie and Draco before walking out of the shop with her husband. As they exited the shop Ernie gave Lizzie a look that clearly showed her she needed to get on with introducing him to Draco. She rolled her eyes at this but turned to face Draco nonetheless.

"Draco, you didn't get a chance to properly meet him at your family's ball so I want to introduce you to my brother, Ernie." She gestured to him as she said so and he walked to join them both, holding his hand out for Draco to shake.

"My full name is Ernest, but Lizzie calls me Ernie."

'Why?' Lizzie thought. 'Why does he have to bring up his full name?'

Draco smirked in response, "pleased to meet you, Ernest."

Ernie scowled slightly but didn't say anything, choosing to glare instead. His glare was met with one of equal disgust from Draco and Lizzie rolled her eyes once more at the boy's behaviour.

The witch who had fitted Lizzie's robes for her came back out, handed the packaged robes to Ernie and Lizzie and gave some non-fitted robes to Draco to put on. She turned to Lizzie and Ernie, "if you're going to hang around here please sit over there," she gestured to some sofas in front of where Draco was facing.

They walked over and sat down, Ernie still sending the odd glare in Draco's direction.

The witch began to pin Draco's robes and he opened his mouth to say something but the door opened once more and another boy walked into the shop.

He was alone and looked really nervous, and somewhat out of place. His black hair was scruffy and his clothes looked a couple of sizes too big for him.

Madam Malkin walked straight over to him, "Hogwarts, dear? Got the lot here – another young man being fitted up just now, in fact, and we've got these two hanging around waiting for him." She sent Lizzie and Ernie a brief smile before gesturing for the boy to stand one the free footstool and slipping a long robe over his heading and starting to pin it to the right length.

"Hello," Lizzie said to the boy, giving him a smile and trying to make him feel less nervous.

He shot a small smile back but didn't say anything, causing Draco to narrow his eyes at him. "Hogwarts too?" he asked, continuing Lizzie's attempt at conversation.

"Yes," the boy finally replied.

"Our parents are all getting some of our equipment. Their mother's looking at books, my father is doing the same and my mother is looking at wands." Lizzie noticed he sounded almost bored, she guessed he wasn't happy about the fact that the boy had ignored her. Either that or his pureblood attitude was showing and he wanted to make it clear that he felt he was better than this boy. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first-years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow".

Lizzie rolled her eyes at him, 'definitely trying to appear better than him' she thought to herself, knowing full well his father wouldn't cave to his wish and that he was going to Florean Fortescue's after his robes were fitted.

"Have you got your own broom?" Draco continued. Lizzie sent a glare his way which he ignored.

"No," the boy said.

"Play Quidditch at all?"

"No."

"I do – Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"

"No."

"Neither do we to be honest," Ernie cut in, making Lizzie breathe a sigh of relief. Draco was not helping this boy feel any more comfortable.

Draco carried on talking as though Ernie hadn't spoken, causing Lizzie to send another glare at him. "Well no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been – imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

"Mmm," the boy replied. Lizzie was beginning to feel very sorry for him as Draco continued to almost interrogate him.

"Look at that man," Ernie suddenly said, making Lizzie jump as he jumped out of his seat.

"That's Hagrid," the boy said once he'd looked over his shoulder to see who Ernie was talking about, "he works at Hogwarts."

Lizzie gave him a smile and waved at the big man in the window. The man smiled at her before turning to the boy and holding up two ice creams, showing he couldn't come into the shop.

Ernie sat down again just as Draco carried on talking, "oh, I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"

Lizzie was becoming more and more annoyed at his 'I'm better than you and I will prove it' kind of attitude.

"He's the gamekeeper," the boy replied, looking at Draco with some obvious distaste.

"Yes, exactly."

"That doesn't make him a servant," Lizzie snapped at Draco.

He looked surprised but continued on his rant, "I heard he's a sort of savage – lives in a hut in the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic and ends up setting fire to his bed."

"I think he's brilliant," the boy stated, a cold tone to his voice.

"Do you?" Draco sneered at him. Lizzie wanted to hit him, why he had to do this to the boy who obviously didn't have much family if the Hogwart's gamekeeper was bringing him to Diagon Alley she didn't understand. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"

If Lizzie could have facepalmed at that moment she would have.

"They're dead."

Ernie gave a small gasp beside her.

"I'm really sorry," Lizzie said, and she was, nobody should have to lose their parents at that young an age. He must be the same age as her, Ernie, and Draco.

"Oh, sorry, but they were our kind, weren't they?" Draco had no tact.

"Could I get away with punching him right now?" Ernie whispered to his twin. Lizzie had to fake a cough to cover her laugh.

"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."

'Thank God,' Lizzie thought, 'at least Draco can't get funny about him being muggleborn.'

"I don't really think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get there letter, imagine. I think that they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"

That was all Lizzie could bear to hear, "Draco, do us all a favour and shut up?"

Ernie laughed as Draco's smirk dropped from his face, and even Madam Malkin gave a small chuckle. The boy looked much relieved at her words and gave a smile as Madam Malkin told him his robes were done. He hopped down from the stool and followed her to get his robes, before exiting the shop.

An awkward silence stretched over the three remaining children as the second witch finished Draco's robes and prepared his package. Once he had been given it they all left the shop and crossed the street to the ice cream parlour.

They all ordered an ice cream each, Lizzie opting for strawberry and vanilla whilst the boys chose to have some kind of chocolate mix. As they sat down to eat their ice creams outside of the shop, Draco tried to speak to Lizzie, which she decided to ignore.

"Elizabeth… please, come on… speak to me."

She turned her head to look in the other direction, people watching instead of replying to him.

"I didn't mean to act like that."

Silence.

"Liz…"

It was the use of a nickname that finally made her turn her head towards him.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been that rude to him."

"No. You shouldn't have."

"I'll be nicer next time."

She threw him an incredulous look, "will you though? That's how you acted when you first met me, and when you first met Ernie."

He had the decency to look ashamed, and mumbled an apology.

Lizzie sighed, "fine, I forgive you, but you were horrible and you had no right to be."

"I know."

They finished their ice creams in silence, waiting for their parents to arrive which they did after a short while. It was Ernie who spotted them first and nudged the other two, who were watching the people walking past on the street and trying to guess who were Hogwarts' first years like them.

The three children looked up as their parents approached, appearing to not have any parcels on them which should be containing their equipment.

Draco was the first to voice this thought demanding to know where everything was. His father gave him a withering look as his mother explained that they had shrunk the parcels to make them easier to carry, enabling them to put them in their pockets. Draco nodded and went quiet for a minute, before speaking again, "father, could we go and look at brooms?"

"Draco, you know you're not allowed one during your first year," his mother chided.

"But could we look anyway? We don't have to buy one, and if we do I don't have to take it. Could we just look?"

Narcissa looked at her husband, clearly showing that is was up to him at this point.

Lucius lowered himself so he was on a similar level to Draco, "we've still got to buy you a wand, and you said you were meeting Blaise. Did you at least decide on a time and place with him?"

Narcissa cut in at this point, "Mrs Zabini owled me, we're meeting them for lunch at The Leaky Cauldron at around 2 o'clock."

Lucius nodded, "it's almost 1:30 now and we need to get your wand."

"I won't be long looking at brooms," Draco whined.

Lizzie looked at her mother, who was smiling at the exchange. She glanced down and met her daughter's eye before turning to the Malfoys, "we really do need to go and get their wands so we're going to do that now."

Draco frowned at that, "but I want to introduce Lizzie to Blaise."

"And Ernie," Lizzie stated, giving him a glare to show she wasn't budging on the subject.

"And Ernie," Draco conceded.

"Well then you can meet up at The Leaky Cauldron for lunch, I'm sure Mrs Zabini won't mind," Narcissa decided, "and we'll go and look at brooms, Draco, so Mr Ollivander isn't overwhelmed with the number of people in his shop."

Draco grinned at that, "okay, I'll see you later, Lizzie." After a pause he added, "and you as well, Ernie."

"Bye, Draco," Lizzie waved as they walked away, before turning to prevent herself from tripping over the cobbled street again.

They didn't get far down the street before Ernie stopped walking, forcing Lizzie to swerve around him, and stared up at a building. It was a pure white colour, standing high over all of the other shops in the street. Lizzie moved to stand beside Ernie and gazed up at the building with him, fascinated by the sheer size of it.

"That's Gringotts," their mother said, noticing the building they were looking at with wonderment. The twins nodded and followed their mother away but still (Ernie in particular) continued to look back every few steps.

The remaining journey went without any instances and they arrived in front of Ollivanders sooner than Lizzie had expected, although she had been continuing to stare at everything on the way so she supposed that kept her distracted.

They entered the shop to find the boy from Madam Malkin's and the big man, Hagrid, Lizzie remembered he was called, paying for the boy's wand.

"Ah, hello I will be right with you in a moment, perhaps you would like to sit down?" An old man said softly, as he boxed and wrapped up the boy's wand, nodding to a chair. Lizzie's mother nodded to him and sat on the chair, beckoning Lizzie and Ernie to stand near her whilst they waited.

The boy smiled at Lizzie on their way out, which she returned, and as they left the shop the man, Mr Ollivander Lizzie assumed, made his way over to them. "The girl first I think, hold out your wand arm." Lizzie held out her right arm and Mr Ollivander summoned a tape measuring, which proceeded to take various measurements as Mr Ollivander bustled around the shop, picking up boxes and forming a pile for Lizzie to try.

The tape measure apparently had had enough by the time his pile was around a foot and a half high and flew to the desk, where Mr Ollivander was placing the wand boxes. "Come here, try this one. 13 inches, willow, unicorn hair, give it a wave." Lizzie did, although it was more of a flick than a wave, and nothing happened.

"Try this, 10 inches, yew, phoenix feather," nothing happened.

"11 and three quarter inches, willow again, and dragon heartstring," again nothing happened.

"9 and a half inches, birch, phoenix feather," as Lizzie waved it a pale pink light flowed from the tip. "Splendid, splendid, that's one done, stand up boy," he used his wand to send the tape measure over to Ernie and took Lizzie's wand from her, putting it back in its box and leaving it on the counter whilst he began to collect wand boxes for Ernie to try.

Ernie found his wand much faster than Lizzie had found hers; it was the second wand he tried (9 inches, Hawthorn, unicorn hair) but similarly to Lizzie, when he waved it a stream of golden light came from the tip.

As Mr Ollivander boxed and wrapped up their wands and their mother was counting out the money required for them both, Lizzie and Ernie were whispering to one another.

"I can't believe we have wands."

"I know, did you see the light that came from mine?"

"Yes, and the pink light that came from mine?"

"Yes, it's very exciting isn't it?"

"I just want to go to Hogwarts now."

"Me too, but we only have to wait 31 days."

"You're already counting?"

"It's the very end of the July, we leave at the very beginning of September."

"True, I just hadn't thought to start counting now."

"Come along you two," their mother had finished paying at this point.

"Okay mother," they both responded, following their mother out of the shop and into the sunny street.

They were walking back towards The Leaky Cauldron when Ernie glanced to their right, "mother, what's that way?" he asked, gesturing to an alley of sorts going off of the main street.

Sophia looked to where he was pointing, "that's Knockturn Alley, please never go down there. It isn't the most savoury place in the wizarding world."

Ernie nodded, but Lizzie was now intrigued. Of course she wouldn't go down there on her own, yet she couldn't help but wonder if Draco knew anymore about it.

They were are silent for a while, Lizzie doing as she had promised herself and focusing on the other side of the street this time, until they reached Eeylops Owl Emporium.

"Can we get an owl, mother? You said you would think about it?" Ernie was begging, Lizzie was amused to see. It didn't happen very often but when it did, it was hilarious.

"I will have to think about it some more, you leave in just over a month, there is plenty of time in which we could still come back."

"Oh," Ernie sounded very disappointed. Lizzie didn't blame him but she wasn't entirely sure on the point of having one.

"Don't Hogwarts have owls we can use?" she questioned, wishing to have some clarity on the matter.

"They do," her mother said.

"Then why do you want one so badly, Ernie?"

"Because then I could have my own, and you could use it. It would mean I could send all the letters I want."

"There's a limit on the number of letters you can send using the Hogwarts' owls?" Lizzie was becoming even more confused.

"Ernest, do stop confusing your sister. Elizabeth, you can use the Hogwarts' owls as much as you want. I will speak to your father about the matter." Both children nodded. "Now, I believe we are supposed to be meeting the Malfoys and Zabinis." Both children nodded again. "In that case we should go and do just that." With that she strode towards The Leaky Cauldron, leaving both children to follow her as quickly as they could.

 **So this chapter turned out much longer than I was originally planning so I'm splitting it into two instead of just the one. I'm not sure if all chapters will be of a similar length now, I guess it will vary and depends on what's in them.**


	7. Chapter 7

The Leaky Cauldron was still as gloomy as it had been when they walked through it earlier that day, but Lizzie still liked it. She looked around and saw Draco waving frantically at her.

"They're over there," she said, pointing the Malfoys out.

They walked over to the table Narcissa had claimed, Lizzie noticing that Lucius had left but decided not to point it out. Ernie however had less tact, "where's Mr Malfoy?"

No tact.

Narcissa smiled gently though, "he had some business to take care of so he had to go home."

Ernie nodded, but Lizzie looked towards Draco, who didn't seem to be overly happy about it. She made a mental note to ask him about it all.

"Mrs Zabini and Blaise should be here soon. I thought that us mothers would leave you children to yourselves and sit at another table?" She looked to Sophia for confirmation on whether or not it was a good idea, who nodded. "That's what we'll do when they get here." The children nodded and sat silently, letting their mother's talk about topics they didn't understand.

Blaise and Mrs Zabini arrived a few minutes later, Narcissa and Sophia standing to greet them before seating Blaise at the same table as the children and moving to one about 10 feet away.

Draco started talking animatedly to Blaise, leaving Lizzie and Ernie sat awkwardly.

"How have you been?"

"I've been good, mother's been meeting with another suitor **(A/N wasn't sure if this was the right word to use but felt right)**."

"What's he like?"

"This one's much like the others, wealthy and good looking."

"At least you know your mother has a type." That made Lizzie roll her eyes, he had no tact whatsoever.

Blaise scowled slightly at that. 'See,' Lizzie thought, 'no tact.'

Wanting to put an end to Blaise's suffering, Lizzie kicked Draco under the table and sent him a look that quite clearly said 'remember other people exist'. Draco smirked but did introduce them.

"Blaise, this is my friend Elizabeth Macmillan," Blaise sent Lizzie a warm smile, "and this is her brother Ernest Macmillan." Draco sounded extremely bored at having to introduce Ernie and Lizzie knew they still weren't on the best of terms, Ernie glared at Draco for calling him Ernest, and Blaise gave Ernie a curt nod. Lizzie rolled her eyes again, this was going to be interesting.

"It's nice to make your acquaintance, Blaise." Why did Ernie have to sound so very pompous and formal? Lizzie saw Draco and Blaise meet one another's eyes and smirk and decided to opt for a small smile rather than saying anything.

"Any idea what house you'll be in at Hogwarts?" Blaise asked, getting straight onto the topic of school.

Draco practically glowed at this point, "Slytherin for sure, you know that, Blaise."

Blaise laughed, "I know, I will be too. I was asking Lizzie." Lizzie noticed how he left Ernie out of the conversation.

Ernie appeared to completely ignore this and decided to force his way into the conversation. "I, personally, don't know which house we'll be in. I don't know whether we'll even be in the same house."

Blaise nodded, "good to know, Lizzie, what do you think?"

Lizzie jolted, realising she had been daydreaming for a second, "oh, I'm not really sure, we've never spoken about what houses our family have been in."

Blaise and Draco both looked shocked.

"You've never spoken about it?" Draco spluttered.

Lizzie glanced at Ernie, "well no… it's never come up."

"Not ever?" Blaise asked, sounding equally confused.

Ernie cut in again, "it hasn't ever come up. We've never given it much thought."

Lizzie rolled her eyes at their reactions; it wasn't the most important thing in the world, why were they acting like it was?

"Why are you acting like this is the end of the world?" she questioned, they were ridiculous.

"Because it's our Hogwarts house! It's important!" Draco squeaked, he actually squeaked.

Blaise, Lizzie, and Ernie laughed, causing Draco to glare at them all. Their laugher continued for a few minutes before Blaise eventually calmed down enough to talk again.

"Which house would you want to be in?"

Lizzie opened her mouth to reply but Ernie got ahead of her, "they're all good, they each have their own qualities to them."

Draco snorted, "except Hufflepuff."

Ernie stared at him, dumbfounded, "Hufflepuff's are loyal and honest."

"Hufflepuff's are a bunch of duffers."

Lizzie could see Ernie was slowly getting angry and decided to change the subject before things got too heated, "so Blaise, have you done much this summer?"

Blaise threw her a look that showed he knew exactly what she had done, but answered her anyway to help relieve some of the tension growing at the table, "I went to the Malfoys summer ball, same as you, other than that I've only really been owling Draco."

Lizzie nodded in response, she wasn't really sure what else to say.

"How about you?" she felt relieved when he made an effort to continue the conversation.

"Same as you, I've been doing a bit of reading as well though."

"What have you been reading?"

"Lizzie's a big reader; she spends most of her time in her room reading actually. When we're not eating meals she's either there or in the library." Ernie had joined the conversation.

"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them', I'm an animal fan," Lizzie ignored Ernie's comment and said with a smile.

"I didn't know that?" Draco had also joined the conversation.

Lizzie turned to face him, "you've never asked me about my interests."

Draco let out a small "oh" and looked down at his hands.

Blaise was smirking at him, "he's not the best conversationalist is he?"

Lizzie let out a laugh, "he is when the subject revolves around him," and they all fell about laughing again, Draco included this time albeit a tad reluctantly.

"Boys and Elizabeth," Narcissa had come over to their table, "do you want any food or drinks?"

"Pumpkin juice," Draco and Blaise chorused.

"Oh, umm same for me, please," Lizzie said.

"And me, please," echoed Ernie.

Narcissa nodded, "four pumpkin juices, any food?"

The children all looked at one another before Draco turned to face his mother, "no food."

"But thank you for the offer," Ernie added, and apparently that simple statement was enough to cause another glaring match between him and Draco.

Lizzie rolled her eyes and caught Blaise's stare. "Are they always like this?" he asked, using his eyes to gesture towards the pair having a glaring match.

"Basically, yes."

"How long have they known each other?"

"They met for the second time today, and that was when I properly introduced them."

"So you're closer to Draco than your brother is?"

Lizzie looked towards the boys who were still glaring at each other, "no," the sarcasm in her voice was evident, "they're best friends."

That broke the boys out of their staring contest, "we're what?" Ernie asked, seeming genuinely confused. Blaise and Lizzie laughed in response, neither of them able to take the other two seriously enough to answer.

When the pair finally calmed down enough to give coherent answers Blaise answered Ernie, "Lizzie was just saying how you two are obviously best friends."

The look of matching disgust on both boys' faces sent Blaise and Lizzie into fits of laughter again.

At this point Narcissa returned with their pumpkin juices and set them down on the table, providing a sufficient distraction from Draco and Ernie's dislike of one another. Lizzie took a small sip, trying to think of a way to continue the conversation but make both Draco and Ernie feel included, without causing a spat between them both. Anything to do with Hogwarts was out given Draco's strong view on the houses and Ernie's distaste for Slytherin (although she wasn't entirely sure why he disliked it so much, she made a mental note to ask him about it later).

Blaise seemed to have a similar feeling towards Ernie as Draco did, as he tried to engage Lizzie in conversation again, leaving Ernie to sit quietly beside him.

"What do you like reading? Other than 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them', I mean."

"Anything that means I can learn something new. I enjoy history and stuff but Ernie's better at that than I am. He prefers learning about our family's history and the history of different places, I assume you've already done all the reading you can about Hogwarts?" she asked, turning to him in an attempt to include him in the conversation.

"What?" he looked confused at the question, "oh, yes but we don't have very much on it in our library. Any history books we have our mostly on our family."

"Then why don't you know what house you might be in?" Draco asked with a smirk.

Lizzie glared at him but Ernie answered the question in quite a calm manner, "our family never felt something as trivial at their Hogwarts house would be crucial to understanding our actions in the past."

Lizzie felt some small sense of smug satisfaction as Draco spluttered to find a response.

"How much do you know about your family's history, Blaise?" Ernie asked, and Lizzie felt proud of her twin for not backing down against the boys.

"I know a bit, but not much," Blaise admitted.

"And how about you, Draco?"

"I know all I need to." Lizzie rolled her eyes, that meant practically nothing.

Ernie obviously worked that out too as he simply nodded as a way of replying.

A silence enveloped the group and nobody attempted to break it. It seemed they had all worked out that there was no way to have a conversation with the entire group without Draco, Ernie, and Blaise ending up fighting in some way (even if that way was just glares). Lizzie wished that they could maybe just get over their differences but she knew some people just couldn't get on. No matter what happened she knew she could talk to any of the boys, but she knew that Ernie could only talk to her. It made her want to face palm, and to roll her eyes, and to do anything else that could convey the irritation she felt at them.

Blaise broke the silence by talking to her again, apparently deciding to broach the subject of Hogwarts again, "what are you most looking forward to about going to Hogwarts?"

She thought for a few seconds, "learning new things and how to fully control my magic, what about you?"

"Ruling the school as a Slytherin," he said, laughing as he nudged Draco in the side. Lizzie rolled her eyes and elbowed Ernie as he opened his mouth to respond; luckily he got the idea and shut up which allowed Lizzie to give her own response.

"Yes, because it's not like you're only a first year… obviously first years are going to be ruling the school this year."

'The idea was ridiculous of course', she thought, 'no seventh year is going to bow down to a first year'.

"Well I don't mean ruling the school as first years; I mean as Slytherins we'll be better than everyone else."

'Conceited much,' Lizzie thought. Don't get her wrong, she liked them both but she could see that quickly changing if they kept being this up themselves.

"You keep those thoughts in your head, Blaise. We'll see what happens when we get to Hogwarts."

Draco looked slightly shocked, "you mean you don't think you'll be in Slytherin?"

"I don't know, but it's only a 25% chance." Privately she didn't want to be in Slytherin if everyone acted like this.

"You're pureblood though, right?" Blaise asked.

For once that day Lizzie was glad Ernie spoke up, "being pureblood doesn't guarantee that you get into Slytherin."

"Well no," Blaise admitted, "but it helps."

"Probably yes," Ernie continued, "but it doesn't guarantee anything."

Blaise relented at this point and another silence stretched over the table.

This silence probably would have continued for much longer if Lizzie and Ernie's mother hadn't walked over, "Elizabeth, Ernest, say goodbye to Blaise and Draco, we need to go home."

"Does she have to go?" Draco whined.

Lizzie smiled at him, "we'll talk later."

Draco pouted and Blaise laughed, "is it okay if I owl you, Lizzie?"

That changed Draco's attitude, "what?"

Lizzie shot him a confused look but ignored him, "yes, Blaise, that's fine. Bye," she finished with a wave.

Ernie gave them both a half-hearted wave before following his mother and Lizzie.

"What are you doing? She's my friend, not yours," she heard Draco say Blaise as they walked out of the pub, but they were too far away for her to hear Blaise's response. She did glance back however, and caught Ernie's eye, showing her that he had heard what Draco said too.

Once they'd apparated home Lizzie had gone straight up to her room to begin reading one of her new books. There wasn't much point in doing this but she wanted to, just in case it helped her in the long run whilst at school and it wouldn't hurt to learn something new.

She'd been reading 'Magical Theory' by Adalbert Waffling for about 12 pages when there was a knock at her door.

"Who is it?" she called, not looking away from her book and continuing to read onto the next page whilst she waited for whoever it was to answer.

"It's me, Ernie, can I come in?" he sounded nervous.

Lizzie grabbed blindly on her bedside table for a bookmark, and upon finding one placed it in the book; that done she closed it and pushed herself up into a sitting position on her bed.

"Come in," she called, shuffling over to sit on the side of her bed closest to her desk chair.

Ernie walked in, almost dragging his feet, and went straight to her desk chair, sitting down and turning it to face Lizzie.

"What's wrong?" there was no point beating about the bush, obviously he wanted to speak to her about something.

"About today, in The Leaky Cauldron…" Ernie trailed off and hung his head.

"Ernie, I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Ernie raised his head slightly, "it's not your fault, you did your best."

Lizzie still felt ashamed, "I could have spoken to you more."

"You spoke to me as much as you could."

"I could have stood up for you."

"I'll admit, that you could have done."

"And I'm sorry I didn't."

"I forgive you, it's difficult with everything our parents are doing."

"I've been going against them enough already, I could have done it some more."

Ernie laughed at that, "probably not the best idea for you to do that."

Lizzie had to laugh too, "you're probably right but still, couldn't have hurt."

"I just don't understand how you could be friends with someone like that."

"I only met Blaise today, I would hardly class us as friends," Lizzie couldn't deny she was slightly confused but what Ernie was saying. However, she also knew that he was talking about Draco more than Blaise and she just didn't want to admit it.

"I meant Malfoy," Ernie snapped.

"I know, and I'm sorry I didn't get there quicker, but there is no need to snap at me, Ernie. I am your sister, I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

He did look ashamed of himself, "I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted, just remember it is my choice to be friends with Draco."

"Lizzie, he's horrible!"

It was her turn to look ashamed, "I know he is, but he can be nice." Ernie opened his mouth to say something but Lizzie ploughed on, "I know how that sounds, I do, but after today I'm going to say something to him. I'm not willing to be friends with someone who acts like that."

"Wait, so you don't want to be his friend anymore?"

"Not if he's going to act like that!" she screeched (she wasn't sure why she screeched but she screeched). "You are my brother and if he can't be at least civil to you then I don't want to be his friend."

"So I don't need to tell you the speech I worked out?"

"No, but I'm sure it was a lovely speech." Any tension between them dissolved at this point, and she knew everything was okay with Ernie again.

Ernie smiled, "it was a nice speech, and had a bit of emotional blackmail in it."

Lizzie leaned back to rest on her elbows, "emotional blackmail? You've been learning quite a bit from Draco apparently."

Ernie stuck his tongue out in disgust, "I doubt it."

"Then you must have learnt it from me," Lizzie said, laughing.

"I doubt that too, you're not that great to be an inspiration to me."

Lizzie gaped at that, unable to reply.

"See? What kind of inspiration can't think of a witty comeback?"

Her witty comeback this time was to throw a pillow at him. Her aim was spot on though and she hit him square in the face.

"Wow, Lizzie. Really mature that."

Lizzie smirked, "I am mature."

"Sure, whatever. Mature people definitely throw pillows as a solution."

He was hit by another one.

"Will you stop that?"

And another.

"Are you going to stop now?"

"I have no choice, I'm out of pillows."

"Really?"

"Don't you dare," she could see Ernie reaching for the pillows.

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Because I'm your sister and an inspiration."

"Not a good enough reason", all three were thrown in a matter of seconds, though his aim wasn't as good as hers so they didn't exactly hit her in the face.

"Great aim there."

"Shut up," but he was smiling.

A comfortable silence fell over the two of them, or at least there was one until there came another small knock on the door.

"Miss Lizzie, an owl and a letter have come for you."

Ernie met Lizzie's eyes, "guess that's Malfoy or Zabini."

"If it's Draco I promise I'll tell him not to be that mean or I won't be his friend anymore. If it's Blaise then I'll bring it up and show my dislike about how Draco and he acted today."

"You'd do that?"

"You're my brother, of course I would."

"Miss Lizzie, can Minky enter your room?"

She'd forgotten about Minky, "sorry, Minky, of course you can."

The door opened and Minky slowly walked in, Draco's owl on top of her head as usual.

"I'll leave you to your letter then, good luck." Ernie walked out, saying a quick hello to Minky as he did so.

"Minky, could we see about getting an perch for him or something? So he doesn't have to sit on my desk whenever he's here."

"Minky will look into it."

"Thank you," Minky gave her the letter and the owl moved to stand on her desk.

"Does Miss Lizzie need anything else?"

"No, Minky, but thank you."

"Goodbye, Miss" and with that she disappeared.

Lizzie walked over and sat on her desk, turning Draco's letter over in her hands. She wanted to read it, but she didn't want to in case he felt completely justified for how he had acted that day. No, she had to read his letter and see if he even decided to bring it up. Lizzie slowly opened the envelope and unfolded his letter.

 _Elizabeth,_

 _I'm going to start by apologising for my behaviour towards your brother. No matter what my opinion is towards him I shouldn't have acted that way in front of you. In the future I will attempt to not do that again._

Reading between the lines, Lizzie noticed that he said he wouldn't do it in front of her rather than he wouldn't do it at all.

 _I do want to continue being your friend so if you can find it in your heart to forgive me then please let me know._

'What a drama queen,' Lizzie thought with a roll of her eyes.

 _Yours faithfully,_

 _Draco Malfoy_

'Short and to the point,' Lizzie noted. She leant back in her chair and covered her face with her hands, letting out a groan. First she would talk to Ernie and get his advice, but she wanted to make Draco sweat a bit. She would reply tomorrow.


	8. Chapter 8

Breakfast the next morning was a subdued affair. Lizzie's father was reading The Daily Prophet and her mother was focused on her book. Lizzie and Ernie quietly ate their food, neither of them trying to break the silence knowing full well that if their father didn't want to speak then they shouldn't try to either.

They also knew to wait patiently until after either their father or mother had finished their meal and left the table before they did so. Unfortunately Lizzie wasn't feeling very patient that day and couldn't sit still waiting for her parents to finish eating. She was fidgeting a great deal and moving restlessly in her seat.

"Elizabeth, would you stop that?" her mother eventually snapped at her.

Lizzie hung her head, "I'm sorry, mother. I just need to reply to a letter and I'm anxious to speak to Ernie," her father coughed and sent a glare her way, "I mean Ernest, on the subject of that letter."

"And who is this letter to?" her father asked.

"Draco."

"Malfoy?" her mother seemed surprised, she wasn't entirely sure why though, it wasn't like she ever owled anyone else.

"Yes."

"Why do you need to speak to Ernest of your letter to Draco?"

"I wish to get his advice on some matter within this letter, and how I can word it."

Her parents exchanged a long look, before turning to look at Lizzie. She shrank slightly underneath their gaze but tried to keep a look of determination on her face.

"Elizabeth, Ernest, go and have this discussion," her father said. "You are both excused."

"Thank you, father, mother." Lizzie pushed her chair back and stood up, before walking to the door and out of the room, Ernie following in her wake.

They didn't speak until they were inside Lizzie's room; she was sat on her bed and Ernie was sat on her desk chair again.

"Lizzie, what's wrong?"

"Read the letter Draco wrote me yesterday," she said, gesturing to where it lay unanswered on her desk.

He picked it up and read it quickly, Lizzie fidgeting some more whilst he did so. Once he'd finished reading it he sat quietly for a few minutes before looking at Lizzie.

"What do you want me to do with this?"

Lizzie frowned, "I want you to help me figure out whether I want to be friends with him or not."

"Lizzie, as much as I would love to be able to tell you, I can't make that decision for you."

"Then talk about it with me, and help me figure it out by talking to me about it."

"Why are you so unsure of this all?"

"He was horrible to you! You're my brother and you've been my only friend all my life." Lizzie could feel tears beginning to well up in her eyes. She was becoming too emotional about this, but Ernie just wasn't getting it. She didn't want to be friends with Draco if it meant that she would lose her twin.

"Lizzie…" Ernie moved to sit by her on her bed, wrapping one of his arms around her and pulling her close. "You're my best friend and nothing that Draco Malfoy does will change that."

"Really?"

"Really. He's not the nicest person but he's nice to you. He treats you as a friend would and that's good. So what if he's not nice to me? I'm not nice to him and I don't want to get on with him."

"Why do you dislike him so much?" Lizzie still couldn't understand it.

Ernie paused for a few seconds. "I don't really know, but he's just not the kind of person I want to get along with."

"But you're fine with me getting along with him?"

"He's said that he'll make sure he doesn't behave that way again in front of you. He obviously cares about you to some extent, if he's willing to curb his attitude to keep you around."

Lizzie was silent.

"Look, all I'm saying is that I think it would be good for you to be his friend. As bad as this will sound, it'll please mother and father."

Lizzie nodded, "but I don't want that to be the only reason I'm friends with him."

Ernie sighed, "Lizzie, do you enjoy being his friend? Do you like talking to him?"

"Yes to both."

"Then be his friend. It's what you want and I can deal with any negativity Malfoy throws my way."

"Are you sure? You say the word and I won't be friends with him."

He sighed again, "Lizzie, you want to be his friend. Whether or not you're friends with him won't change whether or not he is mean to me. I give it out too, it isn't just him."

It was Lizzie's turn to sigh. "I know that, but if I'm to be his friend then I don't understand why he still needs to taunt you."

"Some people are just strange."

Lizzie laughed softly, "true."

Ernie pulled away from her and faced her. "Reply to his letter. Tell him you still want to be his friend. Tell him you appreciate that he won't act like that in front of you. If it will make you feel better then tell him you would rather he didn't act that way to me at all."

She nodded, "thank you."

Ernie pulled her into a hug before speaking to her, "you are my little sister; I am always going to be here for you."

"I am your twin! That does not make me your little sister," Lizzie mumbled.

Ernie laughed, "reply to him."

"I will."

Ernie let her go and gave her a gentle push towards her desk before walking out of her room and closing the door behind him.

Lizzie pulled a sheet of paper, an ink pot, and a quill towards her, stroking Draco's owl as she thought over what to write.

 _Draco,_

 _Thank you for your letter; it certainly gave me a lot to think about._

 _I am glad that you realised your behaviour and attitude towards Ernie was wrong and I appreciate that you have apologised for it. I also appreciate that you have said you will try to make sure you do not act that way in front of me again as the tension between you both made me feel very uncomfortable._

 _I would still like for us to continue being friends but I need you to know that I am not okay with you acting that harshly towards someone who means a lot to me. If you do so in the future I will have to reconsider our friendship once more._

 _Love Elizabeth_


	9. Chapter 9

**Really sorry for how long it's been since a new chapter got uploaded. I started university a week ago and it's been pretty hectic.**

Lizzie was pounding her fist on Ernie bedroom door, trying to wake him up.

"Ernie! Get out of bed! Open the door!"

She heard a groan from the other side of the door, and felt a small smile grow on her face.

"Ernie, I can hear you. Open the door," she called, knocking on the door a couple more times. She smiled again as she heard footsteps coming towards the door she was stood in front of. Lizzie bounced up and down a couple of times, her entire being filled with excitement.

The footsteps stopped and Lizzie heard Ernie sigh, "if I open the door will I regret it?"

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "no…"

He groaned again and the door opened a crack, enough for Lizzie to be able to push into his room and give her brother a bone crushing hug.

"Happy birthday!"

"Yeah, yeah, you do this every year," but he returned the hug, and whispered a happy birthday back to her.

Lizzie pulled away, "okay, can we go and open presents now?"

Ernie gave her a small smile, "if you really want to."

Lizzie squealed, bouncing up and down, whilst clapping her hands. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," and with that she dragged him out of his bedroom and downstairs to the dining room.

Lizzie always loved her birthday, same as most she supposed but still. Her parents didn't always spend the entire day with her and Ernie, but they had more freedom than normal and this meant Lizzie didn't really mind. That being said, she would have preferred if they took the day off to be with them.

She liked spending time with her twin though, and Ernie would randomly come up with things for them to do for their birthday. Again, she just wished her parents would make sure to spend the time with them.

Breakfast was always amazing on their birthday: Minky made their favourite food all day long (meaning pancakes in the morning) and their parents were somewhat social and talkative.

"Happy birthday to you both," their father had said at the very start of breakfast.

"Thank you, father," Ernie replied.

"Thank you, father," Lizzie had echoed.

"What are you both planning to do today," their mother asked, looking at them over her plate rather than her book.

Lizzie looked to Ernie, "I don't really know, Ernie normally comes up with the plans."

Ernie smiled, "I haven't thought of anything, I was hoping you'd think of something this year."

Lizzie grimaced, "do I have to?"

She heard her mother laugh, actually laugh. Ernie and Lizzie both looked at her in surprise, even their father seemed to be slightly confused by the action.

"Oh, Elizabeth, have you really no idea of anything that you would enjoy doing today?"

"Not really, no."

"And Ernest, you haven't thought of anything either?"

Ernie shook his head.

"Well then," she looked at her husband, "we'll have to think of something."

Lizzie and Ernie looked at one another in shock, was this actually going the way Lizzie thought it was?

"You… what?" She stammered out.

Her mother smiled, "your father and I will think of something?"

Lizzie exchanged another look with Ernie, she didn't want to get her hopes up but she could see that he already had.

"For me and Ernie to do?"

"Yes," her mother said, nodding as though that would give better confirmation of the fact.

"Just me and Ernie?"

"No," their father joined the conversation, "your mother and I will be spending the day with you."

Lizzie saw Ernie's face light up with a smile, and she was sure her's was doing the same. Still, she was scared to become too excited over the fact.

"How much of the day?

Her father sighed, "Elizabeth, can't you just be happy that we are taking time out of our days to spend your birthday with you."

Lizzie felt like someone had punched her in the stomach, and she knew it was just easier to go along with what her parents wanted to hear. "I'm sorry father, I'm very happy that you're spending today with me and Ernie."

Robert nodded, seemingly satisfied with her response. Lizzie wasn't sure if he was or not, but knew better than to persist with this.

Ernie spoke up at this point; defusing the tension that was slowly building in the room and making Lizzie send him a grateful look. "What did you think we should do today?"

Their mother spoke, also apparently trying to defuse the tension building between Lizzie and her father, "well, I have been owling Narcissa for a few days now and we've arranged for you two and Draco to spend the day together and we'll all have a family meal in the evening at a restaurant."

Lizzie didn't even need to look at Ernie to know that his excitement would have visibly lessened after that had been said.

She also knew by instinct that he wouldn't ask anything, so she did.

"Why are we spending the day with Draco? Why aren't we spending the day together as a family?" She looked directly at her father whilst she said this, hoping he would appreciate the fact that she asked him personally rather than saying it to the room in general.

Judging by the look on his face he didn't, "because your mother and I are busy and we can only spare time for you in the evening."

Well that hurt.

He continued, seemingly ignorant to the fact that he had practically told her and Ernie that they weren't worth their time, "we thought it would be good for you both to spend the day with Draco and get to know him more."

Lizzie looked towards Ernie, who was quietly continuing to eat his pancakes and trying to stay out of the conversation. She sighed, "it's our birthday, we've always had it as a family day."

'Even if our family haven't really been around,' she thought to herself.

"Elizabeth, you can either spend the day with your brother and Draco or you can both stay home. That will mean no meal this evening."

Lizzie looked to Ernie, silently praying that he would catch her eye; luckily he did and sent her a pleading look. She gave his the faintest nod and turned to their father, "thank you for giving us the choice, father," the sarcasm was faint but definitely there, "but I believe I would rather stay at home today."

Ernie gave her a faint smile, before returning his attention to his pancakes. Lizzie could only wait for the explosion that would surely come.

She saw her father sigh and heard, rather than saw, her mother give a slight gasp. She didn't exactly blame either of them; she knew she wasn't acting as a daughter supposedly should. However, she couldn't quite bring herself to care since she knew she was saving Ernie from a day of hell.

A couple hours later and she was still stuck in her room, after having been sent there following her outburst at breakfast. She'd read a few chapters in some of her new school books but had been laying on her bed for around 23 minutes (she was that bored, she'd been counting). It wasn't the best birthday she'd ever had, but she wasn't entirely sure it was the worst either. What she really wanted to do was see Ernie; they'd always spent their birthday together and it felt strange not doing it. She didn't particularly want to risk leaving her room though.

Lizzie sat up, debating on whether or not to walk to the door. She hated how much trouble she got in just for sticking up for Ernie, although she supposed her parents didn't know that she was sticking up for Ernie.

Letting out a groan of frustration, Lizzie fell back onto her bed. There was nothing she could do and she didn't want to anger her parents anymore, but then that would mean Ernie might be spending his birthday on his own.

She sat up again, this time standing and walking over to the door. She could leave her room, she hadn't been told to go there after all, she had because she knew her father would prefer her out of the way after she'd gone against him.

She could leave her room, nothing was stopping her. She could do it, for Ernie. It was Ernie's birthday too and she felt as though she needed to make sure he was okay.

With that thought in mind she reached for the doorknob and twisted it.

It was locked.

Okay, so that would stop her from leaving her room.

Lizzie groaned again and walked back over to her bed, falling onto it and rolling onto her back. 'Well this is turning out to be a great birthday,' she thought, sarcastically.


	10. Chapter 10

It was finally September 1st; Lizzie was going to be going to Hogwarts today.

She'd barely been able to sleep the night before and had been lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling, for a few hours. When her alarm finally went off (at 7 o'clock), she just about jumped out of bed to get ready. Only to trip on her duvet and stumble across the floor.

Righting herself, she ran to her wardrobe to find the clothes she had picked for today. It was reasonably simple since all her other clothes were packed in her suitcase, which was leaning against the wall by her door.

Once she was dressed, she sat at her desk to write her reply to Draco, which he'd sent last night but by that time she'd been too tired to do anything with it. They'd continued to owl since their argument of sorts over how he treated Ernie, but they hadn't actually seen each other. Obviously they were meant to have on her birthday but she'd point blank said no to her father about that.

Draco had found it hilarious when she owled him saying so the next day.

Thankfully, Draco had been being much kinder and less (not much less, but less) of an arrogant little toe rag as well. She liked to think it was a permanent change, but she knew it was probably only because it hadn't been that long since they had the 'argument'.

Hogwarts would bring everything to light.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she pulled Draco's last letter towards her to reread it so she could actually reply to anything he had said.

 _Elizabeth,_

 _We're going to Hogwarts tomorrow! I mean you know that, of course you know that. But still, we're actually going now!_

 _Do you still have no idea what house you'll be in?_

Lizzie had rolled her eyes at that the night before and did so again.

 _I know, I know, you don't. I just thought you may have found something more out._

 _Will I see you at the platform? Or on the train? I'll see you at some point tomorrow, but whether we actually get to talk or we both see each other… hopefully we'll see each other._

 _Owl me again before you leave. We'll figure out how to continue talking when we get to Hogwarts._

 _Yours faithfully,_

 _Draco Malfoy_

Lizzie grinned, not because of the letter, because of the prospect that she was actually going to Hogwarts today.

Dipping her quill into her ink pot, she began to write her reply.

 _Draco,_

 _For the ten billionth time, I don't know what house I will be in. I will let you know later after the sorting ceremony._

 _I'm sure I'll see you at some point today, but like you said it may not be a mutual thing._

 _So this is my reply to your letter, and yes, we'll figure out how we're going to continue talking once we reach Hogwarts._

 _Love Elizabeth_

When she entered the dining room, Lizzie looked straight to Ernie, finding that his look of excitement most likely practically mirrored hers. They grinned at each other as she walked to her seat and sat down, Minky scurrying to her side to play a plate of bacon, eggs, and hash browns in front of her.

Lizzie risked a glance at her father to find him staring at his plate. She sighed, he was obviously still angry about how she'd been behaving recently. She looked towards her mother, and was surprised to catch her eye and be sent a smile since Sophia had seemed pretty disappointed in her too recently. Lizzie smiled back briefly before digging into her breakfast, trying to contain her excitement and not squeal.

Towards the end of the meal her father cleared his throat, making them all look at him.

"Obviously you are both going to Hogwarts today," he directed this at Lizzie and Ernie, "and you will be there with other wizards of your age who will have parents in the magic community." Lizzie slightly narrowed her eyes, wondering where this was going. "Elizabeth, don't look at me like that," he snapped, apparently having seen her change in expression, "your friendship with Draco may not be enough for us to keep our somewhat elevated status within the pureblood community." Cue an internal eye roll on Lizzie's part. "You both need to conduct yourself well during your stay at Hogwarts, we cannot risk any negativity reaching the ears of any other parents." Cue another internal eye roll.

"Yes, father," Ernie said meekly.

Lizzie sighed, "of course, father."

Their father nodded, seemingly pleased with the response. "Good, now go and finished packing. We will be leaving at 10.30."

Ernie and Lizzie stood up and walked out of the room, silence enveloping them like a blanket. Neither of them spoke until they were almost outside Lizzie's room.

"Well done," Ernie began, making Lizzie stop and turn to head to face him. "For not arguing with, father."

Lizzie nodded stiffly, "there just didn't seem much point."

"You weren't moody or anything though."

"I was," Lizzie promised, "just on the inside."

Ernie gave her a grin and a light push towards her bedroom door, "go and finish packing."

Lizzie stumbled slightly because of said push but moved towards her door anyway, "how do you know I haven't finished packing?"

"Because it's you, you won't have."

Lizzie stuck her tongue out, but went into her room so she could finish packing for Hogwarts.

At 10.30 Lizzie shut her door and began walking down the hall, dragging her trunk full of belongings behind her. She was almost at the top of the stairs when Ernie came bounding up, "Lizzie, father says hurry up."

Lizzie huffed and shot Ernie a look that quite clearly told him to shut up.

Ernie snickered at her and turned his head over his shoulder, "she's coming now."

"Elizabeth, hurry up," their father called.

Another huff escaped Lizzie, "I'm coming now."

By the time her and Ernie actually got down the stairs and into the hall, they were only a few minutes late and Lizzie knew they were apparating there so that wouldn't matter. What did matter was how irritated her father looked.

"Elizabeth, I told you 10.30."

Lizzie hung her head, "I know, and I'm sorry I'm late."

"You're lucky we're apparating to the platform, young lady, or we would almost certainly be late."

Lizzie resisted the urge to say how, if they hadn't been apparating, she would have made sure she was on time, and they would be at least 20 minutes early already.

"I will be apparating with your luggage," their father said. "You'll both be apparating with your mother." They nodded to show their agreement, before he took both their trunks, walked outdoors, turned on the spot and disapparated.

Their mother sighed and held out a hand for each of them to hold. Once they had done so, she too turned on the spot to apparate to King's Cross Station.

They arrived in an alleyway, just off of the street the station was on. Ernie and Lizzie's father was waiting with their trunks, and together they set off onto the street and towards King's Cross.

Once they entered the station, Lizzie's father put their trunks onto a trolley and wheeled it towards platform 9.

"Where's platform nine and three-quarters?" Ernie asked, seemingly puzzled by the lack of obvious train platform.

Lizzie heard her mother laugh quietly as her father kept quiet and just continued leading the group towards platform 9.

As they came up to the space between platforms 9 and 10, Ernie repeated his question. Their father stopped and looked at him, "it's right here," he said as he gestured to the space between the two platforms.

At the look on Ernie's face, Lizzie couldn't help but laugh; although she was also quite confused.

"Walk into the barrier," their mother stated.

All that did was cause a lot more confusion for Lizzie, and Ernie judging by the face he pulled at their mother's words.

"Watch your father, then we'll follow," she said.

Cue a lot more confusion for the twins.

"Just watch," Sophia reassured them.

Lizzie focused her attention on her father as he wheeled the trolley with their trunks on towards the barrier between the two platforms. He slowly began to walk towards it, as though he was just another person on the platform, getting a train to wherever. Just as he was about to reach the barrier, he disappeared.

Lizzie blinked in shock, before glancing at Ernie and seeing her shock mirrored on his face.

They both looked up at their mother, who was smiling at them.

"I still don't really understand," Lizzie confessed.

"You walk through the barrier to reach platform nine and three-quarters," her mother clarified.

Lizzie nodded in understanding, "oh right." She then noticed Ernie smirking at her out of the corner of her eye and elbowed him in the side.

"Come on, we want to get you onto the train in good time," their mother said, pulling them along the platform.

Lizzie couldn't help but be slightly nervous as she was pulled closer and closer to the barrier. Surely they would just splat against it? She knew her father had passed through it, at least she assumed he had.

Just when the crash should be about to come, Lizzie shut her eyes, but then the world went oddly silent.

When she finally felt able to open her eyes she did, and had to hold back a gasp.

There was a steam engine waiting by the platform, it was scarlet and had the words 'Hogwarts Express' written on the side. The platform itself was extremely crowded, there were owls and cats everywhere, trunks being hauled onto the train or resting by their owners.

"Elizabeth, Ernest, Sophia, over here," Lizzie heard her father call, and her mother pulled her and Ernie towards her father. He was a few carriages down the train, and had apparently already begun loading their trunks into it.

"Thank you, father," Lizzie said quietly as she scanned the platform for any sign of Draco's lightly coloured hair. She heard Ernie echo her thanks and returned her focus to her parents, knowing they would probably have to say goodbye soon.

As expected, her mother pulled Ernie in for a hug, leaving Lizzie to say goodbye to her father.

They shared a glance and her father stiffly reached his arms out to draw her in for a hug, which he held for a few seconds before letting go and stepping back. "Have a good time at Hogwarts, Elizabeth."

"Thank you, father."

There was an awkward silence between them before Lizzie's mother reached out to say goodbye to her, leaving Ernie to say goodbye to their father.

Her mother gave her a long hug, before pulling back to look at her. "Look after your brother. He'll look after you too. Just enjoy yourself at Hogwarts." It looked like she was starting to tear up slightly, "write to us whenever you can."

"I will, mother," Lizzie reassured her.

Her mother nodded, and pulled Lizzie in for a final hug. As they broke apart her father stepped over, "Sophia, let the children get onto the train."

Her mother nodded once more, and stepped away from Lizzie, allowing her and Ernie to climb into the compartment.

"Now both of you stay out of trouble, we don't need any bad word reaching pureblood parents," their father said. Lizzie nodded, knowing it was less trouble just to agree. "And make sure you keep on top of your studies," Lizzie nodded again. "Good, have a good time," and with that he shut the compartment door before turning on the spot and apparating away with their mother.

A silence fell over the compartment.

"You know the train isn't leaving for another 10 minutes, right?" Ernie questioned.

Lizzie nodded, "I think he had some work to do or something…" she trailed off, knowing Ernie knew as well as she did that that wasn't true.

"Just think though, Lizzie, we'll be going to Hogwarts soon."

Lizzie smiled, "I guess."

Ernie shot her a concerned look, "are you okay?"

Lizzie nodded once more, "just nervous I guess."

Ernie apparently got the hint and fell into silence. Lizzie wasn't sure why she felt so off, maybe it was just nerves, or the fact that she didn't feel as though she had had a proper goodbye with her parents. Lizzie brushed it off as nerves and turned to Ernie, "can you help me get a book out of my trunk?"

Ernie looked at her incredulously, "you're going to read for the journey?"

"Not for the entire thing, I will talk to you a bit."

Ernie shook his head at her, but stood up to help her nonetheless.

She through him a grateful glance, "thank you."

In silence they both moved her trunk onto one of the seats and Lizzie opened it, retrieving a random book from its contents before shutting the trunk once more.

Just as she'd done this, there was a quiet knock on the door to their compartment. They both turned to face the door as a boy with a worried look on his face slowly slid the door open.

"Could I sit with you? I don't really know where else to go."

Lizzie nodded as Ernie said, "of course."

The boy smiled slightly and dragged his trunk in, "thanks. I'm Justin Finch-Fletchley."

"I'm Ernie Macmillan, that's my sister, Elizabeth."

Lizzie glared at him before facing Justin, "Lizzie."

Justin nodded, and smiled once more.

Ernie helped Lizzie put her trunk away before gesturing to Justin as to whether he wanted any help. Justin nodded gratefully and the two boys did so before both sitting on seats: Ernie next to Lizzie, and Justin opposite him.

"Are you first years too?" Justin questioned.

Lizzie nodded, leaving it to Ernie to make conversation.

"Yes, are you?"

"Yes, I don't really know what to expect."

"Well we don't know that much either, our parents never told us anything."

"My parents didn't know anything until I did."

That made Lizzie look up, "are you muggle-born?"

"Muggle-what?"

Ernie took conversational lead once more, "muggles are non-magic folk."

Justin looked slightly less confused, "oh, yes, I suppose I am then."

Lizzie nodded, effectively ending her part in the conversation, and turned to her book to find some part of it to read for the journey.

Justin began to speak again, clearly aiming his question to Ernie, "are your parents magic then?"

"Yes, our entirely family are."

Lizzie heard Justin begin to speak again, but there was a slight jolt and the train began to move. They were going to Hogwarts.


	11. Chapter 11

Most of the rest of the journey passed without event, Ernie and Justin continued to talk and get to know each other, whilst Lizzie read her book.

A witch with a trolley full of food and passed by the compartment within two hours of the journey starting and Lizzie had bought a pumpkin pasty, she didn't make much note of what Ernie and Justin had bought, preferring to return to her book. They hadn't had many other visitors to their compartment aside from a round-faced boy and a girl with bushy brown hair, who were apparently looking for the boy's toad.

By the time the sky was beginning to get dark, Lizzie had finished reading all she wanted to of her book and was simply listening to the boys talk: apparently Ernie was trying to explain Quidditch.

"There are two teams, and you have chasers who try and score using a quaffle, and then you have a keeper who guards the goal posts to try and stop them. But then you've got beaters, who keep the bludgers away from their team members. The other person is a seeker and they have to catch the snitch."

Poor Justin looked completely lost at Ernie's words.

Lizzie coughed to attract Ernie's attention, and when he turned to look at her she raised her eyebrows, quite clearly trying to show him that he wasn't being clear enough for Justin.

Ernie had the decency to look sheepish before explaining the game again in somewhat simpler terms, "there are seven people on a team, three chasers, two beaters, one keeper, and one seeker."

Justin nodded, showing he understood so far.

"The chasers pass a quaffle between them, that's a kind of ball, and try to score to gain 10 points for their team."

Another nod.

"They have to get it past the keeper, who guards the goalposts and tries to stop them from getting the quaffle through the hoops."

Ernie looked at Lizzie, who nodded to show him that he was explaining it better this time around.

"There are two balls called bludgers in the game as well and they try to knock people off their brooms. Although they would probably never actually do that, they're quite violent balls. The two beaters use bats to keep the bludgers away from their team mates and hit them towards the other team."

Justin looked like he understood what he was being told this time around.

"The seeker tries to catch a small ball called the snitch. Whoever catches that earns 150 points for their team and ends the game. Then, whichever team has the most amount of points wins, so the snitch is quite important in that."

Ernie paused for a moment, "I think that explains it all."

Justin nodded vigorously, "definitely, it sounds very interesting to watch."

Ernie nodded with him, "oh it is."

Lizzie smiled at the pair of them, and looked out of the window. Even though she was looking, she really couldn't see anything given how dark the sky was.

"Should we change into our Hogwarts robes?" Lizzie asked, turning back to face them.

Ernie and Justin both looked out of the window, apparently shocked at how dark the sky had gotten.

"Oh, probably," Ernie said, standing up to help Lizzie reach her trunk so she could pull her robes out.

Once they had all pulled their robes on, they sat back down. A silence fell over their compartment. It wasn't awkward but there was a tension filling the air. All three of them were incredibly nervous and excited and it was beginning to fill the air.

Lizzie wanted to find something to say, she didn't exactly like staying quiet, but she couldn't think of anything. She was too excited and too tongue-tied at the idea of actually going to Hogwarts.

After what seemed like an age, the train finally began to slow down, meaning that it was pulling into the station.

Once it reached a standstill, the three stood.

"Do you think we leave our things on the train or do we have to take them out ourselves?" Justin questioned.

The twins shrugged, neither of them knew either.

They slid open their compartment door, and watched as people streamed past them.

"Will we even be able to get out to the station?" Ernie muttered, just as a gap came in the crowd of people.

Lizzie laughed, "I think we can get out now."

The three joined the queue of people going towards the doors and were soon on the platform.

"Now where?" Ernie asked.

"Don't ask me, you know more about magic than I do," Justin replied.

Lizzie, who had been looking around the platform, piped up at this point, "maybe we go to where that man is shouting 'first years'?"

Sure enough, there was a big man at one end of the platform calling "firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"

They made their way through the crowd towards the big man and waited in the small, but growing, crowd of what Lizzie assumed were also first years.

They waited for what felt like a few minutes, but was probably only about 15 seconds, before the big man started talking again, "c'mon, follow me – any more firs'-years? Mind yer step, now! Firs'-years follow me," and they began walking down path.

Nobody was talking much, to Lizzie it felt like there was too much excitement in the air.

"Yeh'll get yet firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec, jus' round this bend here."

The path had ended and all that was in front of them was a huge lake. Across the lake there was what looked like a mountain, and on top of that was a castle, its windows sparkling at the children.

"That must be Hogwarts," Ernie whispered to her and Justin.

She rolled her eyes, "really Ernie? What gave you that impression?"

Lizzie heard Justin snigger and Ernie huff at her as a kind of response to what she had said, "shut up, Lizzie."

"No more'n four to a boat!" the big man shouted to the small crowd of first years.

Lizzie and Ernie followed Justin to a boat, where they were joined by a dark haired girl Lizzie didn't know.

Once the crowd had dispersed from the path they'd walked down, the big man called out "everyone in? Right then – FORWARD" and just like that the boats began to move across the lake, all on their own.

Justin gaped as they continued to move across the lake, but nobody made a sound. Everyone seemingly stunned into silence at what was happening.

They reached some sort of cliff sooner than Lizzie would have expected and she heard the man yell out, "heads down!"

They went through some sort of ivy curtain and slowly the boats carried them through a dark tunnel.

"We must be under the castle or something," Ernie whispered to Justin, who shushed him, much to Lizzie's amusement.

"What? I'm just saying," Ernie continued to whisper. Lizzie turned around to have Ernie, planning on telling him to shush the same as Justin had, but Justin beat her to it.

"Ernie, I can't quite see anything at the moment, but I will find and hit you if you don't shut up."

Lizzie tried not to laugh, somewhat succeeding but it came out as a cough instead.

The tunnel continued for a while, and Lizzie was slowly beginning to become quite bored. There still wasn't much noise coming from anywhere, even the boats moved silently.

"How much longer?" the dark haired girl, who had joined them in the boat, grumbled.

"Not a clue" Lizzie muttered through gritted teeth.

Eventually they reached some sort of harbour, which Ernie apparently felt the need to point out.

"This place has an underground harbour?"

"Yes, Ernie, thank you, we can see that," Justin sarcastically replied. Lizzie smiled; she was beginning to like Justin.

The boats bumped up against the rocks and everyone began to climb out.

Lizzie, amazingly, managed to climb out of the boat and onto the rocks without nearly falling or tripping; something Ernie felt the need to applaud her about.

The dark haired girl quickly disappeared into the crowd once she had exited the boat. Lizzie supposed she'd gone to find someone she knew.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" The man asked. He must have been checking the boats are everyone got out.

"Trevor!" the round-faced boy who had come to their compartment earlier ran forward to claim his pet.

As a group, the first years followed the lamp being carried by the man up a passageway in the rock, finally coming out of the rock and onto the grass in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and gathered around the oak front doors.

"We're actually here," Ernie whispered.

"Be quiet," Lizzie whispered back, just as Justin muttered, "Ernie, would you shut up?" at the exact same time.

"Everyone here?" the man's voice seemed to boom across the grounds. "You there, still got yer toad?" and with that, he raised his fist and knocked on the door to Hogwarts.


	12. Chapter 12

The doors to the castle swung open, causing the people at front of the group to jump back slightly at the suddenness of it. Lizzie giggled slightly at that, and Ernie elbowed her in the side to get her to be quiet, but a glance towards him showed Lizzie that he was trying not to laugh too.

A woman stood, framed in the light from the room. She was tall, with black hair and wearing emerald-green robes. Her face looked quite stern, which apparently gave Justin enough reason to lean over to the twins and whisper, "she looks like my primary school head teacher". This set Lizzie into another set of giggles and she had to stuff her fist in her mouth to keep any noise from coming out. It seemed Ernie was having the same problem, whilst Justin stood there with an innocent smile on his face.

"The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall," the man who had brought them this far said.

Professor McGonagall, it must have been, replied, "thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." Well now Lizzie knew his name.

Professor McGonagall pulled the doors further open to reveal the huge entrance hall. Justin gaped at it for a second before turning to the other two, "it's so big".

"Well done, Justin, you have eyes that work," Lizzie quipped, although she was shocked by just how big it was too.

The walls had flame torches at intervals, giving the room a warm glow, and Lizzie couldn't even see the ceiling. There were a set of marble stairs on the opposite side of the room, "those must lead upstairs and to the rest of the castle," Ernie whispered.

Lizzie sent him a withering look, "really? Stairs lead upstairs?"

Justin chuckled quietly.

Professor McGonagall led them into the room and across it, until they were huddled in a small chamber off of the hall.

Once they were all in the room, she turned to face them. "Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend time in your house common room."

She paused, giving them a moment to take that in. "The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose your house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

Another pause, "the Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

She glanced around at some of the students, "I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly," and with that she left the chamber.

Nobody said a word.

"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" one boy asked, turning to his friend.

"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurt a lot, but I think he was joking," the friend replied.

Lizzie looked around the room, noting how scared everyone looked, but she supposed she must have looked the same.

As her eyes continued to travel around the room, she locked eyes with a boy with pale blonde hair. She grinned at him, and Draco gave her a small smile back, before looking back to his companions.

"Those two look a bit intimidating don't they?" Ernie whispered to her, making sure nobody else could hear.

"Trust Draco to find body guards instead of friends," she whispered back, keeping her eyes fixed on the group, and then a couple of people screamed.

Lizzie flinched violently, accidentally hitting both Justin and Ernie with her arms.

"Sorry," she muttered as she turned around to see what had happened.

Twenty ghosts had come into the room through the back wall, but they didn't seem to be aware of the first years.

"Forgive and forget, I say, we out to give him a second chance," a fat monk was saying.

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost – I say, what are you all doing here?" One of the other ghosts, this one was wearing one of those neck ruff things Lizzie always associated with the Tudors, had finally noticed the fact that the room wasn't empty.

Not one of the students felt confident enough to say anything so the room stayed silent for a few seconds.

"New students," the Friar said, "about to be sorted, I suppose?" He sent them all a reassuring smile.

Lizzie, Ernie, Justin, and a few other people nodded, but still nobody said anything.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old house you know," the ghost continued. He didn't seem to mind that nobody had said anything.

"Move along now." Professor McGonagall had returned. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

Lizzie's stomach gave a nervous jolt.

"Now, form a line, and follow me."

The first years did as they were told, Lizzie slotting into place in the line behind Justin. Professor McGonagall led them out of the room, across the chamber, and through the doors Lizzie had seen earlier, into the Great Hall.

The Hall itself was magnificent. Thousands upon thousands of candles were floating in mid-air over four long tables at which the rest of the school were seated. There was another table at the top of the Hall, this one was for the teachers Lizzie gathered, and each place along all five tables had a golden plates and goblet set out for the student who would sit there. Lizzie was amazed at the sheer size of the Hall, as well as the splendour of the decoration. She was really had Hogwarts, and had to subtly pinch herself just to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

Professor McGonagall stopped the students just before the teacher's table and Lizzie took the time to have a proper look around the Hall before anything else started to happen. As she looked towards the ceiling she did a double take. There didn't really appear to be a ceiling.

"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in _Hogwarts: A History_ " some girl further alone whispered. Given that Lizzie could hear her, it wasn't a very good attempt at a whisper. However, the words made Lizzie make a mental note to read that book.

Whilst Lizzie had been looking around, Professor McGonagall had placed a four-legged stool in front of the group of first years. On top of the stool was a pointed wizard's hat; it was patched, frayed, and very dirty making it appear to be quite shabby, but Lizzie knew there must be something special about it.

The Hall fell into complete silence, when suddenly the hat began to sing:

"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hates sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all.  
There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.  
You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;  
You might belong in Hufflepugg,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
If you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends.  
So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

Every person in the Hall, except most of the first years who seemed a tad confused, burst into applause. The hat bowed, if that was possible, to each of the house tables and stilled.

Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a long roll of parchment in her hand. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted, Abbott, Hannah!"

A blonde girl stumbled forward, sitting on the stool and putting the hat on, which fell down over her eyes.

"Hufflepuff!" the hat shouted.

She took the hat off, and moved off to the table on the right, who were all cheering.

The same happened for "Bones, Susan!" but then "Boot, Terry!" became a Ravenclaw and the table second from the left clapped.

"Brown, Lavender!" became a Gryffindor and walked over to the table on the far left, which was creating a great deal of noise at gaining a first year.

"Bulstrode, Millicent!" was then called up and Lizzie recognised her as the girl who had sat in their boat on the way across the lake.

"Slytherin!" the hat called, and she too walked away from the group to her new house table.

"Crabbe, Vincent!"

"That's one of the boys Malfoy was with," Ernie whispered.

Lizzie nodded silently.

"Slytherin!"

Lizzie rolled her eyes, trust Malfoy to peg who would be in Slytherin and pick them to sit with.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!" Ernie and Lizzie looked at him.

"Off you go then," Ernie murmured. Justin shot them a smile and walked up to put the hat on.

"Hufflepuff!" the hat shouted, after only deliberating for a few nanoseconds.

He walked off to sit at the table, and caught the twins' eyes, grinning at them and shooting them a thumbs up.

"Goyle, Greggory!" Malfoy's other bodyguard/companion lumbered up, and Lizzie was proved correct in Malfoy's choices when he was also sorted in Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione!" the bushy haired girl who had been helping to look for the boy's toad ran up and eagerly pulled the hat on.

"Gryffindor!"

"Lizzie," she turned her head to Ernie. "What if there's no house to put me in?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, a look of concern gracing her face.

"What if I don't belong to any house?"

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "Ernie, it's going to be fine."

"Longbottom, Neville!" the boy who lost his toad tripped on his way up to the stool.

"But what if it's not?" Ernie asked.

"Gryffindor!" Neville ran off still wearing the hat and had to jog back to give it to the next student.

"Ernie, you wouldn't have been sent to Hogwarts if you weren't magical, right? And they wouldn't make it so nobody could fit into any one of the houses. It's going to be alright."

"Malfoy, Draco!" Lizzie watched as Draco swaggered up to the stool. He sat down and pulled the hat on, but it had barely touched his head when it screamed out, "Slytherin!"

A look of glee crossed his face, and he went off to join Crabbe and Goyle at the table second in from the right. He caught Lizzie's eye as he sat down and sent her a look of pure pride. She good-naturedly rolled her eyes at him, but sent him a small smile.

"Macmillan, Elizabeth!" the call of her name broke her from her eye contact with Draco and she slowly moved up the stool.

As she sat down, she could feel everyone's eyes on her. She took a deep breath and pulled the hat onto her head.

"Hmm," a voice said in her ear. "Oh, yes, very obvious… Hufflepuff!" the hat shouted to the hall.

Lizzie smiled to herself, pulling the hat off and placing it back on the chair, before walking to her new table to meet what Professor McGonagall had said would become her new family.


	13. Chapter 13

Lizzie sat in the space by Justin, relieved she already knew somebody in her house. A couple of older students congratulated her on her sorting as she did so, and she sent them all weak smiles.

"Macmillan, Ernest!"

Lizzie focused solely on Ernie, blocking out anything else going on around her. She knew he would be sorted somewhere, there was no way he would just be left out, but she understood why he was panicking so much.

He sat on the stool and pulled the hat onto his head. A few seconds passed. Nothing happened. Lizzie could almost feel how tense Ernie was becoming.

Then finally, the hat screamed out, "Hufflepuff!"

Lizzie breathed a sigh of relief, and beside her Justin whooped along with the rest of the house.

Ernie half stumbled over, his face half shocked, half pure joy.

"I got sorted into a house," he murmured, sitting opposite Justin and Lizzie.

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "I told you so."

"Shut up," Ernie tried to glare at her but he couldn't put any anger into it.

The sortings continued but Lizzie wasn't paying much attention, it was too amusing to continue watching Ernie's stunned reaction, until…

"Potter, Harry!"

Silence swept over the hall, shock and wonder radiating from each student. It was the boy who lived.

Lizzie stared along with the rest, and then the whispers broke out.

" _The_ Harry Potter?"

"The boy who defeated you know who?"

"Is it really him?"

By this point Harry had reached the stool and placed the hat on his head. Except it dropped over his eyes, effectively shielding him from everyone's stares.

The hat appeared to ponder for a few moments, seemingly unsure where to put him, but then it screamed out, "Gryffindor!"

The table erupted with shrieks, screams, and cheers of such a volume that Lizzie half flinched at how sudden it all was.

There were only three people left to be sorted now, and once the Gryffindors finally quieted down, Professor McGonagall continued.

"Turpin, Lisa!" became a Ravenclaw, "Weasley, Ron!" became a Gryffindor, and "Zabini, Blaise!" became a Slytherin, as Lizzie had expected.

She watched him walk over to the Slytherin table and take a seat close to Draco, who looked up and caught her eye, sending her a smirk showing how obviously pleased he was with being sorted into Slytherin. Blaise turned around and saw her too, giving her a friendly smile and wave, which she returned.

The sorting hat and stool were cleared away, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet.

"Welcome!" he said, addressing all of the students. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" and he sat back down.

The hall cheered and clapped, Lizzie joining in but not quite knowing what to make of them. Catching Ernie's eye, he shrugged and said, "just got to go along with it I suppose."

Lizzie grinned, and turned her attention to the food that had appeared up and down the table. She guessed this was another thing you just had to go along with and starting piling food onto her plate. There was just so much choice, she wanted to try a bit of everything.

"You're thinking with your eyes and not your stomach again, Lizzie" Ernie joked.

"You know what, Ernie? I don't really care," she shot back, grinning as she did so.

Lizzie glanced up and down the table as she ate, trying to see whether she could find any other first years. Ernie and Justin were scoffing down food and talking about their impressions of Hogwarts so far between mouthfuls.

As Lizzie continued to look around, she locked eyes with a blonde girl a few seats down the table opposite her. She sent Lizzie a small smile, "I'm Hannah."

Lizzie nodded, recognising her now as Hannah Abbott, the first student to be sorted.

"I'm Lizzie," she replied, sending Hannah a smile.

Hannah nodded, as Lizzie had, and turned back to her plate. Lizzie felt almost rejected, but she supposed Hannah was in her year and house so she supposed she'd be sharing her dormitory.

Lizzie zoned back in on the conversation going on between Justin and Ernie.

"I wonder what lessons we'll have," Justin was saying.

"I don't really know," Ernie replied, looking confused over this fact.

"I'd assume they'll revolve around magic," Lizzie piped up, joining the talk the boys were having.

Ernie rolled his eyes, "yes, probably."

"Will we learn how to ride a broomstick?" Justin asked.

"First years can't bring their own brooms so maybe not, but I think the school probably own some brooms so maybe…" Ernie trailed off, lost in thought about the subject.

"In short, Ernie has no idea," Lizzie remarked to Justin, who laughed at the quip, "and to tell you the truth, I don't know either."

An older student turned to face them, "you'll get basic lessons, but don't expect anything to really come from it."

"Oh, okay, thank you," Justin gave them a small smile.

The older student nodded and turned back to his friends.

"Do you fly? Usually I mean," Justin asked the twins.

"Lizzie doesn't, she can't stand it," Ernie asked.

Lizzie opened her mouth to say some quip about having her own voice, but shut it again; Ernie was already continuing to talk about his views on flying and Quidditch.

She zoned out slightly, concentrating on her food and continuing to see if she could see any other first years anywhere near them. She couldn't.

She knew that she would meet other people in her year in her dormitory. She knew that she would make friends. She knew Ernie would not just ditch her because Justin had come along and was now his friend. However, she still worried that she would be lonely for the duration of her time at Hogwarts.

Shaking her head to clear the thoughts from it Lizzie steeled herself and turned back to Hannah.

"Hannah," she called over, causing the girl to look up, "how are you?" It was a simple conversation starter but Hannah seemed grateful for it, sending Lizzie a smile.

"Bit nervous, very excited," she grinned. "How about you?"

"Much the same. Are you from a magical family?"

"Halfblood, my dad was a wizard. What about you?" Lizzie noted the fact that Hannah had said was rather than is, but didn't press further.

"Pureblood," Lizzie paused and smiled, considering how to continue the conversation they were having.

Hannah saved her from having to think of anything else, "so you knew about Hogwarts and everything then? Before getting your letter, I mean." The slight grimace that crossed Hannah's face showed Lizzie that she was equally nervous about making friends and everything.

Lizzie sent her a, what she hoped, was a reassuring grin and said "yeah, my parents explained it to me and Ernie pretty early on."

At this point Ernie clocked his name and turned to her, "what?"

"Nothing, I'm just talking to Hannah," Lizzie rolled her eyes at how oblivious he was to everything going on around him.

"Oh," Ernie nodded like he was finally understanding something complex, "hi," he gave Hannah a half wave before turning back to Justin and continuing their conversation.

Lizzie rolled her eyes, nodding her head towards Ernie as she spoke to Hannah, "he's a bit dim at times."

Hannah smiled shyly, dunking her head ever so slightly to look at her plate, "he seems quite nice."

Lizzie pulled a face, "he's a pain."

Hannah laughed, "he's your brother though isn't he? You're meant to get annoyed by siblings."

Lizzie grinned at that comment, "he's my twin, yeah, and I wouldn't change any of it to be honest. Do you have any brothers or sisters or anything?"

Hannah shook her head, "nope, I'm an only child."

"Oh, what's that like?" Lizzie questioned, feeling genuinely curious on the subject, but the question simply caused Hannah to grimace.

"It's alright I suppose. Lonely though, it can get so lonely at times," her face dropped slightly.

"Well you've got me now so you're not going to be too lonely whilst here," Lizzie joked, but the smile that grew on Hannah's face proved it was the right and reassuring thing to say.

"Thanks," she smiled again at Lizzie, before turning back to her plate and finishing the final couple of mouthfuls.

Lizzie did the same, glancing over at Ernie and Justin, both of which were waving their arms about excitedly to emphasise some point or another in their conversation. When she looked back over to Hannah, she saw her doing the same with an amused expression on her face.

"Are they always like this?" Hannah questioned, meeting Lizzie's eyes.

"Ernie, yes. Justin, I only meant him earlier so not really sure, I feel like he probably is though. Or at least," she paused, thinking about it, "if he isn't normally then it's all Ernie's fault."

Hannah gave a small giggle before a gasp; the meals they had all been eating had disappeared and desserts had taken their place.

Lizzie gaped at the sheer range of cakes, and trifles, and everything else along the table. She had never seen this much choice for the sweet part of a meal. Obviously, neither had Ernie and when she looked at him that much was made quite clear as he was piling his plate with everything in reach.

Lizzie rolled her eyes, knowing full well that he wasn't going to be able to finish everything he'd put on his plate since his eyes were so much bigger than his stomach, and helped herself to some sticky toffee pudding and custard.

This part of the meal passed in near silence between the few first years around Lizzie. It seemed Hannah enjoyed being quiet, and Justin and Ernie were too busy stuffing their faces.

As Lizzie ate she mulled over her Hogwarts experience so far. Draco had acknowledged her so hopefully that meant they would be staying friends and continuing to talk, but she wasn't sure. She knew he would be wanting to live up to his family name and she didn't know if that included her. Whilst it would be awful if he did stop talking to her, they had not been friends for too long so Lizzie was sure she would be able to move on with her life reasonably quickly.

She glanced at Hannah, who was slowly picking her way through a strawberry trifle. Hannah seemed like a really nice person, even if she was a bit quiet. 'Not that there's anything wrong with being quiet' Lizzie thought. She just hoped that her and Hannah could be good friends, and that she would be good friends with the other girls in her dormitory.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Professor Dumbledore standing, apparently the puddings had all disappeared but Lizzie had been too consumed by her thoughts to notice. The entire room fell silent, respectfully waiting for him to talk.

"Ahem – just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should not that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

"Why's it forbidden?" Ernie whispered to the older student who had told them about flying lessons earlier.

The student glanced at him before answering, "dangerous creatures." Ernie nodded his thanks.

"I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors."

"That's to make sure that nobody is hurt," the older student whispered to them. Lizzie smiled gratefully, thankful that he was ensuring they understood everything, although she probably could have worked that one out for herself.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

The older student frowned, "that's new this year."

A few people spattered around the hall laughed, but the majority stayed silent.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song! Everyone pick their favourite tune, and off me go!" Dumbledore finished.

A strained sort of atmosphere descended on the hall, making Lizzie assume that the school song was not greatly loved. As it started, she could understand why.

 _"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,  
Teach us something please,  
Whether we be old and bald  
Or young with scabby knees,  
Our heads could do with filling  
With some interesting stuff,  
For now they're bare and full of air,  
Dead flies and bits of fluff,  
So teach us things worth knowing,  
Bring back what we've forgot,  
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,  
And learn until our brains all rot."_

'It's definitely different,' Lizzie thought as she finished singing along. If Hannah's face was anything to go by, she had no idea what to make of it. Lizzie looked over at Ernie and Justin who looked equally confused but were attempting to sing along anyway.

A few minutes later most of the hall had finished, except a couple of boys over at another table who were bellowing the song out. Finally, once everyone had sung the final notes, the hall erupted with applause again.

"Ah, music," Dumbledore spoke to the hall as he wiped his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

Everyone stood up, including Lizzie, Justin, Ernie, and Hannah, but they had no idea where to go.

"First years! Follow me!" someone called out from down the table.

"That's one of the prefects," the older student explained to them, "follow her."

Lizzie nodded her thanks and walked down to the prefect, who was still calling out for all the Hufflepuff first years to come to her. Ernie, Justin, and Hannah all followed her and soon they were gathered around the prefect and waiting for the final few first years to arrive. The prefect nodded when she saw that they'd all arrived and led them back through the great hall and out of the huge doors they had come through to enter the room.

She led them across the hall and down some steps into another part of the castle. They walked down a corridor in silence, Lizzie was too busy looking around and taking everything in to talk to anyone, and she presumed the others were doing the same.

They reached what appeared to be a dead end in the corridor. There was a painting of a bowl of fruit on one wall, and a stack of barrels to the right of it.

"Watch carefully now," the prefect said, turning to face the first years. She turned to the stack of barrels and pointed to the middle barrel in the second row, "this barrel", and knocked on it twice, a pause, and then three more times.

The barrel's lid swung open, earning gasps from the first years.

"And now we crawl," the prefect said, gesturing to the now open barrel.

"We what?" one of the boy Lizzie didn't know said, sounding disgusted by the idea.

"We crawl through a tunnel to our common room," the prefect calmly explained.

"But that's disgusting," the boy said. Lizzie was liking him less and less the more he talked. It seemed Ernie could tell that was her opinion as he smirked at her. Lizzie threw him a withering look.

"It's clean, we wouldn't ask anyone to crawl through anything dirty."

"But why do we even have to crawl in the first place?"

The prefect frowned at him, "because that's just how we get to our common room. Now, someone who would like to be able to get their stuff and sleep, you are welcome to go ahead."

Justin moved forward, "I'll go."

The prefect smiled at him, "someone should be on the other side to greet you."

Justin crawled into the tunnel and out of sight, and was quickly followed by Ernie, who was followed by the obnoxious boy as he muttered something about "can't believe I have to crawl."

Lizzie looked around and realised there were only girls left, and even then it was only her, Hannah, the prefect, and another girl Lizzie didn't know.

Lizzie took a breath in, "I'll go next then, I guess."

She crawled into the tunnel, which turned out to be much more spacious than she had initially anticipated. As she crawled along her thoughts turned to how small their year was. She couldn't quite believe it, especially given the number of students in Hogwarts in general, and then the number of first years in other houses.

The tunnel actually wasn't that along in the end either, and she tumbled out of the other side after trying to put her hand down when there was no longer anywhere to put it.

She heard a laugh to her left and glared up at Ernie, who was doubled over with laughter.

"Shut up," she murmured, standing up and brushing the invisible lint off of her uniform before looking around.

The room itself was round and had a low-ceiling, giving it a cosy feel without feeling claustrophobic. There were plenty of overstuffed sofas and arm chairs around the room, and even without this the carpet looked as though it would be comfy enough to sit on for a long period of time. This added to the cosy atmosphere of the room and Lizzie just knew she would be falling asleep out here a lot. On one of the walls, wall? Lizzie wasn't quite sure given the circular nature of the room, there was a portrait of who she presumed was Helga Hufflepuff. She looked like a kindly woman, the whole place felt very kind in fact. Underneath the portrait was a honey-coloured mantelpiece with carvings of badgers on it, Lizzie supposed that made sense, given the fact that Hufflepuff's animal was a badger.

"This room is amazing," Lizzie breathed.

"Yeah, it is isn't it?" Ernie replied.

By this time it seemed that the remaining two girls had come through the tunnel, as well as the prefect who came over to stand by them.

"Okay, that tunnel over there," she pointed to one to the right of the mantelpiece, "is the girls' dormitory, and that," she pointed to the one on the left of the mantelpiece, "is the boys'."

"Another tunnel?" obnoxious boy grumbled.

Lizzie gritted her teeth and somehow managed to not scream at him to stop being such an obnoxious little jumped up twerp. Apparently Ernie noticed and started laughing at her again.

The prefect took a calming breath, "yes," she said through obviously gritted teeth.

"This is ridiculous," the twerp said under his breath.

Lizzie felt a touch to her arm, and turned to see Hannah.

"Do you want to go see the dormitory?" she said, quite quietly. So quietly that it took Lizzie a second to process what she had said.

"Oh, yes, okay," they both turned to the other girl.

"Do you want to join us?" Lizzie said, sending her a smile.

"That would be lovely, thank you," she said.

Lizzie nodded to Ernie and Justin and sent a smile to the prefect in thanks, before turning to the girls and following them to their new dormitory.


	14. Chapter 14

Lizzie walked through the circular door to her new dormitory a few seconds after Hannah and the other girl. She'd heard them gasp as they took the room in that would be where they slept during term times for the next seven years, but she didn't imagine it could live up to the common room in the way that it had.

It had the same earthy and cosy atmosphere to the common room, keeping the brown and yellow colour scheme. The walls had copper lights on them, casting a warm and soft glow over the room, as well as some copper bed warmers, which Lizzie assumed they wouldn't actually need to use but it added to the décor quite nicely. There were only three beds in the room (clearly accounting for the three of them) but each was a four-poster and had patchwork quilts lying across them.

"It feels so homely," the girl said quietly. She turned to Lizzie and Hannah, "I'm Susan by the way."

"Lizzie," Lizzie introduced herself.

"Hannah," Hannah did the same thing.

"I can't believe we're the only girls," Susan murmured.

"I know," Hannah replied, "the other years all seemed to have so many people in but ours' is tiny."

Lizzie privately agreed and was confused as to why. She made a mental note to ask whether her parents had any idea why this was.

A silence settled over the three of them as they all searched for something to say.

Lizzie continued to look over the room, focusing on the beds and wondering whether they had had their beds already allocated or not. Susan was wandering around the room and looking at the décor on the walls, whereas Hannah was investigating a door on the other side of the room.

"This leads to a bathroom," she called to the girls. Susan and Lizzie walked over to join Hannah in peering into their bathroom.

It had a reasonably sized bath, with a shower built into it. The sink had a mirror over it so they could check their reflections and the toilet was a standard toilet. Lizzie didn't quite know what else she expected, it was just a bathroom to be honest and nothing fancy was really needed.

As she turned back to the room she saw that at the foot of one bed there was a trunk. Glancing to the others she saw that they also had trunks by them.

"Guess we've been allocated our beds," Lizzie said, moving forward to look for her trunk and find her bed.

It turned out that Susan's bed was closest to the bathroom, Hannah's was between Susan's and the door, and Lizzie's was on the other side of the room. There were spaces either side of her bed, 'must be spaces for any more beds,' she thought, and reiterated the mental note to try and find out why their year group was so small.

Susan was buried in her trunk by the looks of it when Lizzie zoned back into the room.

"Ummm, Susan? Are you alright over there?" she asked, not sure whether to laugh or not.

A muffled noise came from inside the trunk. Lizzie looked to Hannah, who shrugged.

"Pardon?" Lizzie felt more like laughing by the second.

Susan fell back onto the floor, "I wanted to find my pyjamas," she said, holding them up.

Lizzie glanced at Hannah, who promptly fell back on her bed laughing.

Lizzie giggled, and shook her head, "were they at the very bottom of the trunk or something?"

Susan grinned sheepishly; obviously they had been in that case.

Lizzie grinned back at her and walked over to her own bed and sat down on it, the mattress felt like heaven and she sighed as she lead back on it.

"I know right," Hannah called over, still lying flat on her bed.

"Will you guys actually be getting up now?" Susan questioned, withdrawing a bag of toiletries from her trunk.

"Nope," Hannah replied. "I will stay here forever."

Lizzie smiled, wishing she could, but she knew she needed to at least dress for bed before going to sleep. With a groan she pulled herself back up and off the bed, moving over to her trunk to find her own toiletries and pyjamas.

"Do you mind if I use the bathroom first?" Susan asked, her voice become quiet as though she was worried they wouldn't let her.

"Go ahead," Lizzie said as Hannah made a noise and waved her arm up in the air.

"Thanks," Susan smiled and hurried into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

"You could probably get changed now, and I would have no idea," Hannah said, making Lizzie glance over at her. She was right, her eyes were shut and she was still lead on her bed.

Lizzie grinned at her, even though she couldn't see, "thanks, I'll close my curtains though."

Another noise came from Hannah; something Lizzie assumed was just her way of agreeing to stuff.

Lizzie climbed onto her bed and pulled the curtains around her shut, changing quickly and pulling back one side of the sheets so she could half fall into bed. She turned to the curtains to try and find her way out but couldn't see the divide. Letting out a sigh and hanging her head back, she opted for hitting the curtains repeatedly to find it. It worked, even if she looked slightly ridiculous doing it.

Once she had finally escaped the confines of her four-poster she noted that Susan was back in the room, and had apparently noticed the flapping of Lizzie's curtains judging by the bemused look on her face. "Manage to find your way out?"

"Yes, thank you very much," Lizzie stuck her tongue out on her way over to the bathroom.

Once inside she quickly washed her face and cleaned her teeth, there wasn't anything particular special about her evening routine. Or her morning one… She didn't do much.

"All yours' Hannah," Lizzie called as she exited the bathroom and went back over to her bed.

Another noise.

"Are you going to start unpacking now?" Susan asked, looking torn between sleep and organising her stuff.

"Tomorrow," Lizzie said, "too much effort for right now." She was sat back on her bed and ready to fall asleep, the big dinner at made her very tired.

Hannah stumbled over to the bathroom, "not now, sleep now." It seemed someone else was very tired too.

"Yeah, alright then," Susan climbed into bed and under the covers, before exclaiming a "curtains!" and jumping back out. She smiled over at Lizzie, who was sat on the edge of her bed for no apparent reason. "I've never had curtains around my bed before."

"Me neither, I don't really know if I want to use them."

Hannah stuck her head out of the bathroom, her toothbrush in her mouth, "I'm not going to," she somehow managed to say.

"I might not bother then," Lizzie said.

"I like the idea of none of us curtaining ourselves off, seems more welcoming and friendly," Susan smiled.

"Cool, I'm going to sleep," Hannah said, falling on her bed and pulling the quilt over her. "Night guys."

"Night," Lizzie and Susan echoed, both climbing into their own beds.

At this point the lights dimmed down, Lizzie guessed they were enchanted or something.

As Lizzie lay in bed, her mind wandered over the day she'd had. She still couldn't quite believe it. She was really at Hogwarts. Lizzie closed her eyes and, with a smile on her face, drifted off to sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

When Lizzie woke the next morning it took a minute to place where she was, but she smiled to herself when she clocked that she really was at Hogwarts. She sat up and stretched, taking in the golden glow illuminating her dormitory. Susan and Hannah were still asleep, although it looked like Hannah was stirring ever so slightly.

Taking as much care as she could to be quiet, Lizzie swung her legs out of her bed and tiptoed over to their bathroom. Once she was inside she closed the door and bent over the sink to wash her face and wake herself up somewhat. Part of her was still in complete disbelief that she was actually at Hogwarts, and had been sorted into Hufflepuff. There was nothing wrong with Hufflepuff of course, she was simply surprised at having been genuinely sorted into a house.

Straightening up, Lizzie stared at her reflection. It seemed her curls had expanded during the night creating a blonde mane around her face. A small smile graced her face as she turned to find her hairbrush and attempt to tame her hair. Unfortunately that didn't go to plan and they puffed out even more.

Lizzie glared at the curls to her right and scowled. There wasn't much she could do and she made a mental note to find a product which would help her as she wasn't sure she wanted to have to constantly sleep with her hair in plaits as she already had been. Opting for a messy bun day she pulled her hair up and twisted a hairband around it, hopefully the band wouldn't break halfway through the day. She quickly brushed her teeth and walked back into her dormitory to find her robes and get dressed.

As she left the bathroom she nearly walked into Hannah, who was sleepily stumbling to the bathroom.

"Morning," she yawned, setting Lizzie off as well so she nodded and once her yawn stopped she responded in the same fashion.

"I hate mornings," Hannah grumbled and Lizzie smiled before walking over to her trunk. She heard the bathroom door shut and looked over at Susan, who was now dangling half off of the bed. Lizzie shook her head at her and dug in her trunk to find a set of robes. By the time she found them, Susan was blinking wearily to try and wake herself up.

"I'm awake…" she mumbled, trying to right herself and not fall off the bed.

Lizzie laughed, "so are me and Hannah, she's in the bathroom at the moment and I've already gone in so I guess it's you next."

Susan nodded, still with her eyes half closed, "bathroom, waking up, yes."

Lizzie laughed again and clambered onto her bed and reached towards her bed curtains so that she could get changed in private.

"What are you doing?" Susan was more awake now and realised Lizzie was standing on her bed.

"Well you'll be using the bathroom in a minute and I need to get changed," Lizzie explained, nearly falling over due to how soft her mattress was.

Susan nodded, "that's a good idea." She stood up and stumbled to the bathroom, clearly still drowsy. Once she got there she banged on the door, "Hannah, I need to wake up, get out of there!"

"Shut up, almost done!" Hannah shouted back.

Lizzie shook her head at them and closed the curtains around her bed, pulling off her pyjamas and pulling on her robes for the day. She heard the bathroom door open and shut again as she was tucking her blouse into her skirt and knew that Susan was now in the bathroom. Once she was dressed, she pulled her curtains open and jumped down onto the floor of their dormitory.

Hannah looked around, "you alright there?"

Lizzie grinned, "just been getting changed."

Hannah nodded, "I might use the same idea." She pulled her robes out her trunk and climbed onto her bed much more gracefully than Lizzie had and shut the curtains without a problem. Lizzie scowled slightly, of course she roommate would be able to do that without falling over.

Lizzie finished dressing, tying her tie, finding socks to wear, pulling her robes on, and finally slipping on some shoes. She wandered over to the full length mirror in a corner of their room, 'can you even have corners of a circle?' she wondered before appraising her appearance. She looked decent, couldn't ask for much more.

At this point Susan came out of the bathroom. "Do we have to be awake right now?" she whined.

Hannah laughed from behind her curtains, "I don't know, but I'd quite like breakfast."

At the mention of breakfast Susan perked up, "I'll be ready to go eat soon."

Lizzie felt her stomach grumble slightly, alerting her to the fact that she was quite hungry even after the spectacular meal from the night before. She moved to her trunk again, "do we have to take anything today?"

Susan opened her mouth, then shut it again, "I don't know."

Lizzie looked at her school supplies, and then at her bag, and then at the door. "I'm going to go and see if I can find anyone to ask."

Susan nodded and Hannah shouted out an "okay" from behind the curtains of her bed. Lizzie crossed to the door and made her way back to the common room.

The room was empty except a few older students hanging around. Lizzie looked around nervously, suddenly unsure of what to do. As she was beginning to wish she hadn't come out, the student from the table who had spoken to them a few times walked over to her.

"Everything alright?"

"What? Oh, yes, well…" Lizzie trailed off, not quite sure what to do next.

He smiled comfortingly at her, "it's difficult on your first day but don't worry you do get used to everything."

"Thank you," she returned the smile," I just, do we need to take anything today? To our lessons, I mean."

He nodded in understanding, "take writing equipment, book wise you probably won't need anything and even if you do then the teacher will understand if you don't have it. They'll probably even have spares ready just in case people don't bring their books."

"Thank you," Lizzie said again, turning to go back to her dormitory.

"I'm Cedric, by the way," the older boy said, "if you need any more help then I'm here."

"Lizzie," she replied, smiling before turning back to go to her dormitory again.

"Oh actually," she said, turning back once more. Cedric grinned at her. "Do we just go to breakfast whenever? Or what happens with that?"

"If you all come and meet out here then a prefect will take you up to the Great Hall and explain what's going to happen today to you," he told her.

"Okay, thank you, I think I'm all out of questions for now," she grinned.

Cedric grinned back at her, "well I'm here if you need any help."

"Thank you," she said, and this time she actually did return to her dormitory.

"Okay so," she called as she walked back into their room, "take writing equipment but that's all that'll be expected for us to have."

Hannah was lying at the end of her bed at this point, and began to pack her bag. Susan stuck her head out of the curtains, "alright, what happens with breakfast?"

"We meet a prefect in the common room apparently," Lizzie said, walking over and beginning to pack her bag.

"Who did you speak to?" Hannah asked, turning from her bag to face Lizzie.

"Oh, Cedric, the one who answered some of our questions at the table last night," she replied."

Susan jumped off of her bed and sprinted across to Lizzie, "a boy? You spoke to a boy?"

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "yes, and I have a brother so I've been speaking to the male species for years."

"But, a boy?" Susan repeated.

"Yes, Susan, a boy, he was really helpful last night and he was being helpful again this morning."

"Is he cute?"

"Susan!" Hannah shrieked, looking shocked at the question.

"What?" Susan turned to Hannah, "is he?"

"I suppose so…" Hannah trailed off, "but he was just being helpful."

"What year's he in?" Susan questioned, not willing to let the subject drop.

"I don't know," Lizzie sighed, "are you ready for breakfast?"

That seemed to distract Susan from the subject, "one second," and she ran to her trunk to stuff her writing equipment into her bag. Lizzie caught Hannah's gaze and they both rolled their eyes, grabbing their own bags and moving over to the door to wait for Susan.

"Coming, I'm coming," she called, grabbing her shoes and slipping them on before running over to join them at the door.

They re-entered the common room to find the prefect girl from last night standing near the entrance back to Hogwarts.

"Morning girls, are you ready for your first day?" She said, sending them a smile and beckoning them over to her.

The three girls gave half-hearted smiles, nerves apparently beginning to set in.

She nodded in understanding, "I remember, don't worry."

At this point the boys filed out of their dormitory area and came over to them.

"Well now what?" the rude boy from last night grumbled.

"Now I explain what's going to happen today and take you up to the Great Hall, to make sure you don't get lost," the prefect explained patiently.

Ernie and Justin moved to stand by Lizzie, who moved back slightly so she could stand with them.

"That's Zacharias Smith," Ernie muttered in her ear, "he's amazingly irritating."

Lizzie stifled a giggle before turning her attention back to the prefect who appeared to be taking some calming breaths before turning back to Zacharias.

"We just don't want any of you to end up lost on your first day so we like to do as much as we can to help. Now, if you'll follow me," and with that she turned to the entrance and bent down to crawl through. Lizzie went next, followed by Ernie, and they waited for the rest of them by the barrels.

"I still can't believe we have to crawl through a tunnel," Zacharias whined, and it took a few calming breaths to stop Lizzie from punching him.

"I'm Daisy by the way," the prefect remarked, "and I'll be happy to help you if you have any problems you don't know how to solve. Our head of house is Professor Sprout, she usually comes down the evening of your first day to get to know you and speak to you about how you're finding everything." By this time they had reached the entrance hall.

"Professor Sprout likes to keep involved with how things are going so she normally comes to the common room once or twice a week. She also likes to bring plants down for us to see, she's the Herbology teacher you see, so that's always nice. The plants she leaves behind give the common room a homely feel to it as well." They'd reached the table.

"Okay then, I'll leave you all to it. Let me know if there's anything more you need to know or anything I can do, and Professor Sprout will come and give you your timetables soon." She walked away and the first years sat down at the table.

Silence descended on their group.

'Well, aren't we a talkative bunch,' Lizzie thought as she helped herself to some bacon and scrambled eggs. The rest of the group followed her lead and soon conversation wasn't really possible due to the fact that they were all eating.

Between bites, Justin began introducing himself Susan and Hannah, who in turn did the same and soon everyone was swapping names.

"And you are?" Zacharias said rather rudely to Lizzie, who jumped slightly not realising someone was speaking to her.

"I'm Lizzie," she said, before going back to her food.

"Elizabeth," Ernie piped up with a grin. Hannah giggled slightly.

"And I chose to go by Lizzie, don't call be Elizabeth," she glared at her twin, but there was no real malice in her look.

"Oh, is this your brother?" Susan questioned.

"Unfortunately," Lizzie mumbled, causing Justin, Ernie, and Hannah all to laugh at her attitude towards her brother.

The conversation continued in a disjointed way about what they thought of Hogwarts until a plump witch came over to them.

"Hello, you must be the first years. I'm Professor Sprout, Herbology teacher and head of Hufflepuff," she said warmly, greeting them with smiles. "Here are your timetables for your classes, stick together to find the rooms for now but it shouldn't be too difficult to get to grips with how the castle works." She placed six down on the table, and Ernie began to hand them out.

"What do you mean, how the castle works?" Justin asked.

"The staircases sometimes move," Professor Sprout said in an offhanded manner. The first years all glanced at each other, mutually sharing a look of 'oh, right, of course'.

"Anyway, I hope you all enjoy your first day and I shall come and speak to you this evening to see how things have gone." Professor Sprout smiled again and walked back up to the teachers' table.

"The staircases move?" Justin asked, staring at Ernie and Lizzie, obviously looking for answers.

"I had no idea," Ernie said, looking to Lizzie for answers.

"Don't look at me, I know about as much as you do," Lizzie said, still confused over the fact that the staircases move.

"Who's what blood?" Zacharias asked, rather randomly in Lizzie's opinion.

"Pardon?" Susan looked shocked at how he had phrased the question.

"Well I'm pureblood," he continued. Lizzie and Ernie exchanged a look, wondering what his opinion was on blood supremacy. "What's everyone else?"

"We're pureblood," Ernie said, waving at himself and his twin.

"Muggleborn," Justin said.

"Half-blood," Hannah said.

"Same, I'm half-blood too," Susan said, nodding in agreement with Hannah.

Zacharias nodded, "interesting mix."

Lizzie looked at Ernie, unsure of what to make of the comment. Ernie glanced at her, seemingly thinking the same way.

An awkward silence descended on the group, although Lizzie wasn't sure whether or not half the group found it awkward. She didn't know how much Susan or Hannah knew about the still prominent blood supremacy issues found in some pureblood families, and then there was Justin, who probably had no idea. She made a mental note to keep Draco away from him until he learnt to keep his opinions to himself.

Speaking of, Lizzie looked around the hall and spotted Draco with his new bodyguards, Crabbe and Goyle. A girl with brown hair and a rather squished face seemed to be practically throwing herself at Draco, keeping herself half draped over him as he laughed with some other boys. Lizzie saw Blaise there, he appeared to be choosing to keep his distance from the interaction but still laughing and talking to them. Blaise looked up and caught her eye, sending a small smile which she returned before looking back at her food and finishing the final few mouthfuls.

"Should we try and find our first classroom then?" Susan asked, looking at the group and then shyly back at her lap.

"What do we have first?" Lizzie asked. She hadn't yet looked at the timetable Ernie had given to her.

"Herbology, with Professor Sprout," Susan said.

"Where?"

"Greenhouse one," Susan answered again.

"That will be outside, right?" Hannah asked.

"What do you have first?" Daisy had come over to check on them.

"Herbology in greenhouse one," Susan said.

"Any idea how to get there?"

The first years shook their heads.

"Out the main doors and turn left, follow the castle round and you'll get there," she smiled at them. "Professor Sprout will help you find your next class and I'll come and check on you this evening." With that she walked away.

"Why is she treating us like we're five?" Zacharias spat out.

Lizzie barely held in an eye roll, "because it's our first day in a new school and we have no idea what we're doing."

That shut him up pretty quickly.

They arrived at the greenhouse without much incident. On the walk Lizzie had dropped back to talk to her brother since they hadn't properly had the opportunity to the night before or that morning.

 _"I still can't believe we're here," Ernie had been saying, "it still feels like it's all part of a dream her something."_

 _Lizzie smiled at him, "I sort of know what you mean, but it just feels so right to be here that it can't not be reality. If that makes any sense?"_

 _"Completely. What are your roommates like?"_

 _"I get on with them both okay. Susan seems quite a cheerful person and shares my opinion on mornings."_

 _"Hates them?"_

 _"Food was the only thing to perk her up this morning." The siblings shared a laugh._

 _"What about Hannah?"_

 _"Seems alright, Susan's a lot more forthcoming about stuff but Hannah's been great so far. What about your two?"_

 _"Justin's fine, it's Zacharias that's the problem." Lizzie sent him a sympathetic look. "Don't look at me like that, or do, I appreciate it but it's just something I have to deal with."_

 _"True, I mean there's not much you can do about it."_

 _"No, there isn't. That doesn't mean I have to like it though." They laughed again and Justin dropped back to walk with them._

 _"What's so funny?" he asked._

 _"The fact that we can't do anything about Zacharias," Ernie explained. Lizzie watched the boy in question as he tried to join Susan and Hannah in their conversation._

 _"He just needs to learn when to shut up," she said, mindful to keep her voice from getting too loud._

 _The boys laughed, "that's true," Ernie said._

 _She stared at him, "I know… I wouldn't have said it otherwise."_

 _Justin looked confused, as though he didn't quite know what to do. Ernie held in stare for a few seconds before breaking into a fit of laughter, which she joined in with soon after. Justin continued to look confused but at that point they came up to the greenhouses_.

"Found greenhouse one," Susan called over her shoulder to them. They all came up to join her and waited patiently for Professor Sprout to arrive and let them in. A silence stretched over them, although it was comfortable for the first time that day.

After a few minutes of silence a chattering noise began to build from the direction of the castle and a group of students rounded the corner. Lizzie recognised a few of them from the sorting or the train the day before, and also saw that Harry Potter was one of their number which would make them the Gryffindor first years.

"I guess we share this class with the Gryffindors," Lizzie muttered to Justin, who happened to be stood by her at the time.

"I would say you're right," he whispered back.

As the Gryffindors came up to the greenhouses and slowed to a standstill they stopped speaking as well.

'Making friends is going to go so well between the houses', Lizzie thought to herself, although she was fully aware of the fact that she wasn't trying either.

Luckily, Professor Sprout arrived before the silence could become too awkward and ushered them all into Greenhouse One. She explained a bit about Herbology (plants, from what Lizzie listened to, it was just about plants) before setting them to work with some basic gardening skills like how to use a trowel, and filling pots with soil.

Lizzie let herself zone out for most of the lesson, her hands working with the earth of their own accord. Nobody really spoke that lesson either. Everyone seemed to be concentrating on their work or too nervous to speak to anyone else. Lizzie admitted to herself that she didn't want to be the one to break the silence either.

Professor Sprout walked around the greenhouse, observing their work and commenting on how they were doing. The lesson actually passed surprisingly quickly and soon Professor Sprout was telling them to put everything away and clean themselves off.

Lizzie pulled her gloves off and moved the trowel, bag of soil, and pots back to the benches they belonged on. She was just brushing her hands on her robes when she felt a small tap on her elbow and heard a quiet "hey" just behind her. She turned around to see Susan.

"We need to go to Transfiguration now, you coming?" Susan asked, again in the quiet voice she had just used.

"What? Oh, yeah, right, I'll come now," Lizzie smiled at her and walked over to the spot she'd been working at to grab her bag. She pulled it over her shoulder turned to walk back to Susan, but knocked into one of the Gryffindors by accident.

"I am so, so sorry," Lizzie spluttered out the second she knocked into the girl.

"It's fine, I wasn't looking where I was going," the girl replied. Lizzie recognised her as the girl who was trying to find a boy's toad on the train the day before. The girl smiled and ducked her head, walking back to her work area.

Lizzie wandered over to Susan and the rest of the Hufflepuffs so they could walk to Transfiguration together.

"Right, she's here, shall we go now?" Zacharias asked the group, although his tone quite clearly showed he was irritated that they'd had to wait.

"No, even though we're all here we're going to continue to stand around like lemons," Hannah threw back. Lizzie knew Hannah had been worked by him all lesson so she guessed it had finally taken its toll.

Zacharias threw Hannah a dirty look and stalked out of the door. The rest of the group followed at a slightly slower pace and Lizzie made sure to position herself by Hannah.

"What happened?" she asked.

"He's just an irritating, jumped up, little toad," Hannah spat.

Lizzie nodded, still confused but it seemed like Hannah just needed to calm down. "Right, that's difficult."

The rest of the walk passed in silence and they managed to find their way to Transfiguration without being on a staircase when it moved. Ernie almost stepped on a moving staircase but Justin yanked him back before he got moved away from them and to another part of the castle.

It turned out that Transfiguration took place with the entire year group, some 30 or so students. Each house stuck in their own groups though, no interaction taking place and each splitting off to claim a corner of the room.

Lizzie saw Draco but he was once more lording over the other Slytherins and didn't really seem to take any notice of the fact that they were in the same class.

Professor McGonagall talked about what transfiguration is, same as Professor Sprout had told them a bit about Herbology, but it seemed simple enough: a something being turned into a something else. The lesson was then spent learning a new alphabet and making notes on it, something Lizzie didn't fully understand and privately agreed with Zacharias when he began making comments on the fact. However, unlike Zacharias, she got on with the work regardless of the fact that she didn't understand it.

The class dragged and Lizzie became more and more confused as it went on. She kept going with the work and made her notes but it wasn't like she understood any of it. Luckily, she was sat by Ernie who seemed to be getting it so she'd talk to him about it later.

Professor McGonagall seemed to be an okay teacher, definitely the kind you wouldn't cross but she seemed okay. Lizzie imagined she wouldn't take any nonsense but might be quite nice if need be.

The lesson ended and the Hufflepuffs walked down to the Great Hall for lunch, Hannah still ignoring Zacharias and Zacharias still whining about the fact that he didn't understand the lesson.

The rest of the Hufflepuff first years continued to walk down to the Great Hall, all of them ignoring Hannah and Zacharias. Lunch passed in much the same way, an awkward silence over the group with small talk being made between Ernie and Justin, and Susan and Lizzie.

After lunch they all walked up to History of Magic, and one the way Lizzie made an attempt to calm Hannah down.

 _"Hannah, you can't just ignore him for our entire time here."_

 _"I can, he's irritating so I can."_

 _"Hannah…"_

 _"What, Lizzie? You can't possibly tell me that you like listening to him moan all the time?"_

 _"No, I don't, but I can't imagine ignore someone for 7 years so there's no point."_

 _"It's making me feel better."_

 _Lizzie left it after that._

History of Magic was dull, and incredibly boring, and Lizzie was convinced she fell asleep at one point. They were with the other first years in the other houses this year again, and Lizzie was convinced that nobody was actually listening except the girl she'd knocked into earlier.

About halfway through the lesson Lizzie and Ernie started passing notes discussing the Hannah/Zacharias situation. Ernie was convinced that they just needed to leave it, but Lizzie thought if they just left it then it wouldn't get sorted. The notes ended with Lizzie saying that all they needed was to get Zacharias to shut up, and Ernie replying with the fact that they'd never be able to get that to happen.

The lesson dragged and Lizzie was sure that her life was wasting away as the teacher, a ghost named Professor Binns, droned on and on about some magic history thing. Lizzie didn't even know, something was being spoken about but she had completely zoned out and wasn't paying attention.

Finally the ghost dismissed the class and Lizzie had to snap out of her stupor and push all her equipment back into her bag. She hadn't used any of it, although she knew full well she probably should have been taking notes.

As the Hufflepuffs walked out of the classroom, they all slowly realised that it was too early for dinner so they didn't know what to do.

"Should we just go to the common room?" Ernie suggested, taking control of the situation.

The group nodded and they moved off towards the stairs to go back down to the lower levels of the castle. Pretty soon the group had formed into mini groups of people who were talking, with Hannah and Susan leading, Lizzie, Justin, and Ernie wandering along in the middle, and Zacharias sulking at the back.

Lizzie glanced back at him, frowning sadly before turning back to the boys and meeting Ernie's eyes.

"Go and talk to him, you want to try and sort it out so do," he said, smiling reassuringly at her.

Lizzie grimaced before nodding and dropping back, falling into step with the boy in question.

"Hey," she said, smiling at him.

Zacharias looked up, obviously surprised, "hi, have you come to shout at me too?"

"What? No, why would I shout at you?"

"Because apparently I can't keep my mouth shut long enough to think things through and realise I shouldn't speak." He was obviously quoting whatever Hannah had thrown at him that morning.

"I wanted to check you were okay," Lizzie answered honestly.

"You what?"

"I," Lizzie paused, feeling a bit ridiculous, "I wanted to check that you were okay."

"Why?" He looked at her suspiciously.

She sighed, "because you're both in my year and in my house so it's not like you're not going to be around much and it's our first proper day at a new school so I don't want you to be miserable."

He glared at her suspiciously and she sighed again, "is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not unless you can get Hannah to stop snapping at me every time I open my mouth."

Lizzie chewed her lip, trying to work out how best to word her next sentence, "I'll talk to her, but could you… I mean, would you possibly… what I'm trying to say is…"

"Spit it out," he interrupted her.

She glared at him, "you're quite rude in what you say at times so maybe if you weren't so blunt and upfront about everything we would all get on better." Okay, well she hadn't meant to say it quite that harshly but if it worked then it worked.

"You're one to talk about bluntness," he murmured. Lizzie glanced at him to see that he actually looked quite sad.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know how else to explain it," an ashamed expression took over her face and she looked down at the ground.

"It's just a bit hypocritical."

"Not really, I've been blunt with you once compared to your constant bluntness." Lizzie shrugged, "okay maybe twice."

"It's just who I am though."

"I understand that, but you have to understand that you won't have many friends left by the end of the week let alone the 7 years here if you don't button your lip a bit and stop making blunt, and quite frankly some cruel, comments."

They'd finally caught up with the rest of the group at the barrels to get into the common room and the conversation was effectively over. Ernie smiled at her before ducking and crawling through the tunnel.

"Just think about it," Lizzie said, turning away from him and crawling into the common room after her brother.


	16. Chapter 16

After that first day the rest of the week passed quite peacefully. Zacharias seemed to have heeded Lizzie's advice and more often than not kept his comments to himself, although he did still make the odd blunt statement. He asked how people were and made an effort to keep conversation going rather than ending it with a rude comment that would cause an awkward silence to descend over the group.

Hannah began slowly talking to him again, which made the whole atmosphere lighter and they started to be able to bond as a group, joking around and helping one another with homework. Turns out the homework wasn't that bad, but still pretty bad. Lizzie went with the fact of 'if you got it done quickly everything was fine'.

Professor Sprout had made sure to check on them whenever she had to chance to, keeping up to date with how they were getting along in classes and whether they were managing to stay on top of the homework they'd been getting.

The answers to those questions for Lizzie were mostly "I don't understand what's going on in Transfiguration" and "why do we have to do History of Magic?"

The end of the week also meant the end of learning about each of their new lessons, and Lizzie had to admit that they were all amazing (even if she was confused by a couple of them). She'd liked the flying lessons but could tell that she probably wouldn't be playing Quidditch anytime soon. It wasn't something she would hate to do, she liked flying after all, but she could only just get the broom to come to her hand.

Lizzie had also seen Draco around a couple of times, but he hadn't done anything more than send her a half smile and look away again. Although she found she didn't really mind. She hadn't known him for that long so it didn't really matter to her. The way she saw it, whilst it was a bit of a shame because he was good for conversation, she had good friends regardless of whether or not he was one of them.

She had become closer to Susan and Hannah (sharing a dormitory will do that to people) which was probably the nicest thing that could have happened since she'd never had that many girl friends growing up. In all fairness though, the entirety of Hufflepuff house was reasonably close and everyone was very welcoming to the first years, to every year in fact, it was a very friendly house. All the older students were willing to help the younger years with homework, having studied it themselves before and furthered their knowledge beyond that now.

The prefect that had helped them made sure they were alright most evenings and whilst it was half stifling to begin with, it became nice to know that there was someone they could talk to about any problem. That being said, Lizzie found that after the initial personality clash between Hannah and Zacharias there wasn't much in the way of drama. Each of the first years was focusing on their work and trying to understand everything that was being taught to them.

On the Saturday morning, Ernie got an owl letter from their parents addressed to them both. It wasn't anything overly special, just saying that they hoped their first week had been good and that they were keeping up with the homework they had been set. As Ernie read the letter out and reached that particularly message, Susan squeaked, obviously remembering that she hadn't finished part of her homework.

"Can we go to the library today?" she asked, a worried look becoming fixed on her face.

Hannah nodded, "I've still got a bit left to write."

The two girls looked at Lizzie, who rolled her eyes, "Ernie made sure I got all my homework done, but I'll come up and read."

Ernie grinned broadly, "I'm a good brother like that."

Every single first year turned to stare at him, and Justin voiced what they were all thinking, "Ernie, you're a swot, shut up."

Ernie gaped at him. As did Lizzie actually, she didn't really know what to say to that. It was true but she would never have expected Justin, of all people, to call Ernie out on it.

"Pardon?" Ernie spluttered.

Justin laughed at their expressions. "Oh come on, we've only known Ernie a week but he is. It's not a bad thing and we're all going to appreciate it come exam time," he said, obviously trying to reassure Ernie.

Ernie spluttered a bit more, no real words coming out.

Lizzie placed a hand on his forearm, "Ernie, he just means you're focused on your work and make sure it all gets done."

Justin nodded, "yes, that."

Ernie slowly nodded, "I, yes, that's true."

"And he is simply trying to explain that you are pushing it onto me slightly. I will get my work done, Ernie, don't worry." Lizzie continued in attempt to calm her brother.

"Am I?" Ernie looked puzzled at the idea.

"Ever so slightly, I could have got the work done today with Hannah and Susan. I don't necessarily need you to help me finish it."

"I'm sorry," his eyes turned downwards and he looked extremely ashamed of himself.

Lizzie rolled her eyes at him, "you finished eating? I feel like we need to talk."

Ernie clambered off of the bench, "yeah, we can talk now."

Lizzie joined him standing up, "I'll meet you guys in the library?"

Susan smiled, "we'll see you up there."

"We have to go back to the common room first though, to grab our stuff," Hannah added.

"Shall I just meet you in our dorm then? And we can walk up together?" Lizzie asked.

"Sounds good," Hannah said, as Susan nodded.

"Great," Lizzie finished before turning and walking away with Ernie.

"Where are we going for this walk then?" She queried.

"Outside, find somewhere to sit?"

"Okay then, lead away."

They walked in silence for a few minutes, Lizzie's head was buzzing with everything she would need to talk to him about and how to let him down gently about a few things. Glancing at her twin every now and then she could tell he was becoming more and more worried that he had been too full on this week and everyone hated him. They found a tree and sat down under its branches, neither of them wanting to speak.

"Ernie," Lizzie began, and his head snapped round to face her, concern evident. "Ernie, nobody hates you so stop thinking that."

"Are you sure?" Lizzie's heart broke for him; he looked so scared of the prospect.

"Yes, I'm sure, why would you think they do?"

"Justin's comment," Ernie trailed off.

"Justin only meant it as a joke," the words sounded half-hearted even to her.

"Really?"

"Okay, not quite. But, Ernie, you have to understand that you have come on as very full on in your dedication to work, and we don't mind that you want to do well, we just mind when you push it onto us."

"But I don't."

"How many times this week did you ask me how my homework was going?"

"Only once or twice."

"Really?"

"Maybe three or four times."

"You were closer with once or twice."

Ernie grinned, "see!"

"Once or twice a day, you dingbat," Lizzie rolled her eyes at him, trying to pass the whole thing off as a joke.

It appeared Ernie didn't find it funny.

"I didn't." Any trace of a grin faded from his face.

Lizzie frowned, the light-hearted mood disappearing, "except you did. Like I said, we don't care that you want to do well, just you can't push it onto us."

"I'm not trying to!"

"We know, but this needs to stop before it gets any worse."

"I don't feel like I'm doing anything wrong though," Lizzie's heart hurt from the pain that was stuck on Ernie's face at this point.

"Please, just stop asking us a couple of times a day if we've finished our homework. If something's due in the next day then check if we've finished it, but other than that you don't need to."

"Will that mean nobody hates me?"

"Ernie! Nobody hates you anyway."

"It feels like it."

"I know you think that, but they honestly don't. Ernie, you're my brother, you know when I'm lying." It was true, he'd always been able to tell when she wasn't being truthful about something.

"Still feels like it," he mumbled. His body language was a lot less tense now though, so Lizzie knew he was feeling better.

"Does it now?" a grin was spreading across her face at this point.

A jumble of words came out of his mouth which Lizzie couldn't understand, but he was starting to smile slightly himself.

"All you have to do is cut down the asking about homework."

"That's it?"

"That's it." Ernie smiled at her, obviously relieved.

"I'll do it less then."

"Good, now how do you feel the first week has been?" and with that they were back to normal, having sorted out the issues at hand.

Later that day, Lizzie had collected a book, Susan, and Hannah, and the three of them had headed up to the library. It was early afternoon (Ernie and Lizzie had spent the better part of the morning catching up and talking about the week) so they'd had lunch and gained some energy. Or, at least, Hannah had; the other two were feeling sleepy.

Susan was ploughing on with her work though, and Lizzie had to give her credit for that. Hannah was diligently working away and they were both slowly getting there. Lizzie was very thankful her work was all done; there was no way she would have had the focus to get it done today, she could barely read without wanting to nap.

They heard the odd movement in their general area of the library, students getting books or walking to other parts, but nobody disturbed them. At least, nobody disturbed them until a quiet cough sounded, around mid-afternoon.

The three girls turned around, and Lizzie did a double take, seeing Draco Malfoy standing by the bookcases.

"Umm, hi," he awkwardly waved at them all.

Hannah and Susan stared back at him, seemingly just as awkward as he was.

"Hi," Hannah spluttered out, whilst Susan seemed at a loss for what to say.

Lizzie continued to look at him, not quite sure what to say to him or what he wanted to say to her.

"I was," he paused, still clearly awkward, "could I speak to you, Lizzie?"

Lizzie closed her book and put it on the table, before pushing her chair back and rising to walk towards him.

Hannah half stood up, obviously feeling conflicted about the matter at hand.

"Hannah, it's fine," Lizzie said, not taking her eyes off of Draco, who hadn't spoken to her once since coming to Hogwarts. She didn't know what he wanted but she figured she would give him the benefit of the doubt.

As she walked over to the pale boy, he looked away from her, before meeting her eyes again and leading her into another row of book shelves.

"May I help you?" Lizzie asked. She knew it was quite blunt and possibly a tad rude, but at the end of the day he had yet to talk to her this term, despite his previous conviction that nothing would change.

"I just wanted to speak to you," he replied, and appeared embarrassed at the situation.

"Why now?"

"What do you mean?" confusion spread across his face.

"You haven't spoken to me since before we came to Hogwarts, I've been lucky to get a look of acknowledgement."

"I've been busy," he began, but Lizzie interrupted him.

"Draco, we're in the same year and do the same classes, I'm just as busy as you are."

"I have a reputation to uphold."

That stunned Lizzie into silence. She gaped at him and he winced, realising just what he'd said.

"I mean, as a Malfoy I'm expected to lord over the rest of the Slytherins."

"Not helping your case here," Lizzie spoke through gritted teeth.

"I haven't yet worked out whether being friends with you will be allowed or not."

"Allowed?"

"That's not the right word."

"Then why did you use it?" she was slowly losing patience with him.

"I don't want to stop being your friend, but I don't want it to affect my status."

"So being my friend will make you of less importance?"

"I don't think so."

"Then what are you trying to say with all of this?"

He hung his head, "I don't know."

Lizzie shook her head, "then why are we having this conversation?"

"I wanted to tell you that I still want to be your friend."

"Do you? Because this conversation has made it seem otherwise."

"I didn't explain myself in the best way, did I?"

Lizzie crossed her arms across her chest, "no, you really didn't."

"Can I start over?"

Lizzie didn't respond to him, instead she continued to stare at the boy standing across from her.

He sighed, "I apologise for the way I've acted since arriving at Hogwarts, there's been no good reason for not speaking to you and it was rude of me to not say hello at all."

"Good to know you're aware of that fact."

He sighed again, "look, Elizabeth," she scowled at the use of her full name. "I know I've already been given a second chance by you, but could I have another one?"

It was Lizzie's turn to sigh, "why should I?"

"I don't know, I don't have a good enough reason."

An internal conflict was raging inside Lizzie at this point. She knew her parents would want her to forgive him and get on with being his friend, but personally she didn't want to go through this constantly with him.

"How many more times will this happen?"

He looked confused, "will what happen?"

"Will you ask for another chance at being my friend?"

"I don't expect you to give me one, I know it's asking a lot."

"You have to make a lot of effort right now."

Draco's face lit up and a smile began to grow on his face, "yes, effort, I'll do that."

"Draco, I'm not joking, I don't know about giving you another chance."

"I'll do better, I promise."

Lizzie rolled her eyes, still not fully convinced. "If you say so, I guess."

"I do," he pulled her in for a hug, which she reluctantly returned after a few seconds. Once they had broken apart there was an awkward moment in which neither of them knew what to say. Draco spoke first, "I'll leave you to get back to your friends then." Lizzie nodded and walked back the way she had come, leaving Draco stood in the bookshelves.

Susan and Hannah appeared to be doing work, but the second Lizzie walked back into their corner, their books went down and they stared at her, obviously wanting information about what had happened.

She returned to her seat before actually saying anything to them, "yes?"

The questions began immediately.

"What was that about?"

"How do you know Draco Malfoy?"

"Are you two friends?"

"What did he want?"

"What did he say?"

"What happened?"

Lizzie waited patiently for the girls to stop talking.

"I met Draco at a ball his parents held over the summer, we were friends and spoke for a while but when we came to Hogwarts he stopped talking to me. That then was him asking for me to give him another chance."

The information was taken in and Hannah was the one to break the silence, "what did you say?"

"I told him he needs to make more effort with me; I'll consider giving him another chance if he does."

The girls sat in silence before Susan spoke, "that's fair enough, and you don't deserve to get messed about." Susan nodded in agreement, the three girls shared a smile, and they went back to their various tasks at hand.


	17. Chapter 17

"Elizabeth!"

Lizzie paused in the middle of the corridor she was walking down to reach the library and turned toward the owner of the voice.

"Yes, Draco?" it wasn't that she didn't want to see him, or wasn't happy to, she had just had a long day and needed to start on the work set by Professor Binns on some subject she hadn't really been paying attention to.

"Where are you going?"

She sighed, "the library to start the stuff Professor Binns set us."

Draco pursed his lips, "already? It only got set today."

"Funnily enough I know that," Lizzie bit out, before taking a calming breath and speaking again, "I zoned out for half the lesson and missed most of what Binns said."

"Most? I missed it all and I probably won't start until the weekend."

Lizzie let out a long sigh, "well that's great for you, now if you don't mind I'm going to go to the library," and she made to move past him.

She would have successfully made it past him as well, if he hadn't stuck his arm out.

"Lizzie, come on, relax."

Instead of replying she glared at him.

"Now don't be like that," he said, smiling in an obvious attempt to get her to stop trying to go to the library.

"I want to make a start on the essay, so move aside and let me."

"You can take a night off of work."

"Just let me make a start on it," Lizzie was exhausted and running out of patience with him.

"We've only got to write 12 inches."

"Draco, just stop and let me."

He sighed, apparently defeated, "I'm coming with you then," and he started walking in the direction of the library.

Lizzie stood dumbfounded in the corridor before hurrying to catch up with him.

"Why?" she asked, sending a suspicious look his way.

"I've spent too much time walking around the castle trying to find you, if you insist on going to the library then I'll come too."

It was a fair enough response on his part, "why were you looking for me?"

"I'm making effort like you asked me to."

Lizzie smiled to herself at that, it was nice to see that he still wanted them to be friends.

"Thank you," she replied, smiling at him, which he returned.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, Lizzie frantically searching her brain for something to say, although Draco appeared to be pretty relaxed about the entire thing.

"What are the other Slytherin's like?"

Draco coughed slightly, "they're decent enough."

Lizzie frowned at him, "decent enough?"

"The boys are good, Crabbe and Goyle are dim but take direction well."

"They 'take direction well'? So what you're saying is they do what they tell you?"

"Pretty much."

"Ummm okay then," Lizzie wasn't entirely sure what to make of that.

"That sounded better in my head."

"Did it really?" Lizzie was a bit sceptical of that.

"Sort of," Draco smiled sheepishly.

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "and the girls?"

"Mostly okay," Draco pulled a face.

"Mostly?"

"Pansy Parkinson."

"Ah," Lizzie nodded, "who?"

"Parkinson, she's obsessed with me."

"Is that your version of obsessed with you, or normal people's version of obsessed with you?"

He sighed, "she won't leave me alone."

Lizzie looked around them, "well she's left you alone right now."

He glared at her, "must you be particular about it?"

"Yes," she grinned at him and pulled open the door to the library, which they had just reached.

"She insists on popping up wherever I am and attacking me with her arms."

"When you say attacking you with her arms?" The two of them were shushed by Madam Pince and continued on their way into the library, whispering now.

"Hugs, nothing but hugs."

"And you're not the hugging type? Also, where is the History of Magic section so I can find some books?"

"This way I think," Draco tugged her hand and began to lead her to the section of the library where he thought the books were. "And it's not that I don't like hugs, I just don't like being smothered."

"Apparently you're open to hand holding as well?" Lizzie said, staring pointedly at the fact that he still had her hand.

"With special chosen ones," he grinned at her.

"Oh, don't I feel honoured."

"You should," he said, grinning at her again.

Lizzie didn't dignify that with a spoken response and instead rolled her eyes.

"Here we are," Draco whispered, they'd apparently arrived at the section. "What are we looking for?"

"Anything about some gargoyle strike, I've got it written done in my bag."

"Okay," and he started looking at the shelves for any book that might contain some information.

Lizzie stared at him, stunned, "what are you doing?"

"Helping you look for a book, or I would be if you were actually looking too."

"Why?"

"To be nice."

She raised her eyebrows at him, "to be nice?"

"That and to hide from Parkinson."

Lizzie had to stifle a laugh at that, "you sound like you're scared of her."

"One day she may just strangle me."

Lizzie nearly fell on the floor at that, and Draco just looked at her strangely.

"Do you want to find a book you need or not?"

"Sorry," she composed herself and started looking along the bookshelves as well.

The two worked in silence for a few minutes, scouring the shelves to try and find some books for Lizzie to use.

"How about this one?" Draco held up a book with the title _Gargoyles and their History_.

"Looks like a good start," Lizzie grabbed the book from him and walked out of the bookshelves to find a table to work at.

Draco followed her after a few seconds and pulled up another chair to sit across from her. He didn't do anything other than just sit there as she pulled parchment and quill out of her bag, and Lizzie began to wonder just what he was doing.

"Draco? Are you going to sit there and stare at me working the entire time?"

"I don't have anything else to do."

"So you're going to creepily watch me work?"

"I'm not going to creepily watch you work."

"That's what you're currently doing."

He paused, apparently not sure what to say, "sorry, I'll have a nap or something," and he laid his head on the table.

Lizzie stared at him in amazement for a few seconds before getting on with her work and opening the book. She then remembered that she didn't actually know what she had to write about and scrambled to find her piece of paper. 'Discuss the main cause for the Gargoyle Strike of 1911', Lizzie read and grimaced at the title. At least it now meant that she could find information needed and write the essay Binns had set her class. With this now in mind, Lizzie turned back to the book and began to search for anything about this strike in 1911.

Lizzie had poked Draco awake a few hours later to let him know that she was going down to eat dinner, and after she'd checked the book she'd been using out they both walked down to the Great Hall.

"Did you actually fall asleep," she asked, as they wandered down to eat.

"I think so, I may have completely zoned out of everything though."

"That's short for you fell asleep then."

"Maybe, yes."

They laughed and smiled shyly at each other.

"What happens when we get to the Great Hall?" Lizzie asked.

Draco shot her a look of confusion, "what do you mean?"

"Are you just going to stop talking to me?"

Draco shook his head, "no! No, I'm not going to do that."

"Okay, sorry I asked," she felt awful for doing so.

"It's fine, just if Parkinson kidnaps me then please try and save me."

They were coming closer to the Great Hall now.

"I make no promises," Lizzie grinned at him.

He glared straight back at her, "thanks for the support."

"You're very welcome."

They'd reached the Great Hall now, and Draco sighed, "I guess I'll see you later?"

Lizzie nodded, "yeah, see you soon," and they walked to their separate tables.

"Hey guys," Lizzie said, as she sat down with the other Hufflepuff first years. She was met with various greetings, and a grunt from her brother, who had food in his mouth. Looking at the dishes nearest to them, she began to load her plate with chicken, mash, and vegetables, before pouring gravy on top and starting to eat.

"Have you been in the library this whole time?" Zacharias questioned between forkfuls of food.

Lizzie nodded, finishing the food she had in her mouth before replying to him, "pretty much."

"How?"

Lizzie stared at him, "what do you mean how?"

"How did you work for that long?"

"Oh," she had to admit that made sense, "I mean I wasn't working for the entire time I was up there."

Dinner passed fairly quickly, Lizzie didn't join in with much of the conversation as she was still feeling pretty stressed from the day. It wasn't that her day had been particularly bad, not at all; it had just been so long and involved History of Magic, which Lizzie knew she should have been paying attention in. Except she hadn't. She wasn't overly sure why today had been so awful, even though it had been long. Having to spend that much time in the library really hadn't helped either. Lizzie had to admit though that Draco coming and finding her and spending that time with her, even though he'd been napping had helped.

Once they'd all eaten, the Hufflepuff first years went back to the common room to relax before everyone went to bed but almost the second Lizzie sat down on one of the sofas she came very close to lean on Ernie and falling asleep.

"Guys," she said, standing up, "I'm going to head to bed, it's been a long day."

"You okay?" Ernie asked, worry seeping into his voice.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine, it's just been a long day and I'm tired."

Ernie nodded, although he still looked quite concerned with everything.

"Ernie, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I just need some sleep, that's all."

"Want me to come check on you at all?" Susan asked.

"I'm fine, honestly," Lizzie could feel herself beginning to get irritated. "I'm just going to get some rest."

The group chorused a series of 'goodnights' and Lizzie headed to their dormitory. It was tempting to just fall on her bed and pass out with exhaustion and stress but she forced herself to get changed into her pyjamas and at least clean her teeth. The second her head hit the pillow though, she was out like a light.


	18. Chapter 18

Lizzie felt a lot calmer the next day, she'd slept for what must have been about 11 hours and Ernie gave her a hug the second he saw her (because apparently saying 'I'm fine, I just need sleep' meant she wasn't fine and nothing could fix it).

"Could we eat breakfast separately today?" he'd asked after he let go of her.

"Why?" they always ate as a year group.

"Haven't spoken to just you in a while."

"Ernie, we spoke Saturday?"

"You walked into the Great Hall with Malfoy yesterday." Ernie stared meaningfully at her.

Lizzie responded by rolling her eyes, "sure, but there's nothing much to tell."

"Also we have a letter from our parents."

"What?" Lizzie was shocked, "when did that arrive?"

"Last night."

"When last night?!"

"You'd gone to bed."

"But how did a letter arrive?"

"Minky popped into my room."

"She…" Lizzie trailed off, completely confused, "she brought it to your room? She came to Hogwarts?"

"I don't get it either."

Lizzie shook her head, "okay, we'll talk about this at breakfast."

"Thank you," Ernie smiled at her, "we can still walk up to the table and everything with the rest of the group."

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "that's a given."

At this point they were just waiting for Zacharias, or everyone else was sat on the sofas waiting for Zacharias, and Lizzie and Ernie were stood by the entrance to the girls' dormitories where he had waylaid her.

"Justin," Susan said, "can you go and check where he is?"

"Why can't Ernie?" Justin said, his voice slightly muffled from where he was face planting the arm of the chair he was sat on.

"Because Ernie is talking to Lizzie about things," Susan reasoned.

Ernie stared at Lizzie, wide eyed, "quick, look like we're still talking!"

Lizzie cast him a withering look, "go check where he is."

Ernie huffed and walked off to find Zacharias. Lizzie walked over to the other three so she could speak to them and apologise for the mood she'd been in the night before.

"Don't even think about trying to apologise, Lizzie," Justin said, still face down on the arm of his chair.

"What?" she was slightly stunned by that to say the least.

"You were tired yesterday, it's a valid reason for being a bit grumpy."

She just gaped at him, "how did you know I was even about to do that?"

"You're a nice person, you would naturally want to apologise as quickly as you could."

"I –" still feeling stunned she spluttered slightly on her words.

"And I have magic senses so that's how I knew you were over here and about to speak."

Hannah snorted, "you have magic, Justin, not magic senses."

"Fine," Justin sat up, "I'm a ninja then."

Hannah snorted once more but Ernie and Zacharias came out of the boys' dormitory before she could make another comment.

"Come on, breakfast is calling," Zacharias said as he walked past them and to the tunnel which lead out of their common room.

The rest of the first years exchanged glances. The thought on everyone's mind was quite clearly the same, that he was the one they had been waiting for. However everyone stayed quiet and just followed him out of the common room and towards the Great Hall.

As he had asked, Lizzie sat with Ernie separately to the other first years.

They made small talk while they each loaded their plates (Ernie with bacon and eggs, Lizzie with pancakes) and then ate in silence for a few minutes.

After chewing a mouthful of pancake Lizzie spoke up, "what was the letter?"

Wordlessly Ernie passed it over to Lizzie and continued to eat. She unfolded the letter and read it over.

 _Dear Ernest,_

 _Your mother and I hope that everything is going well for you and your sister. Whilst it would be much more pleasant if this was simply a letter of well wishes and encourage, unfortunately there is a serious matter I must discuss with you._

 _The Parkinson family are one of great influence in the Pureblood community, but they always have been. Influence is something our family should strive for, and I need you to make sure that your sister is doing the best she can to build a relationship with Draco Malfoy._

Lizzie looked up at Ernie, "is he being serious?"

"Just keep reading."

 _The Parkinsons also have a daughter of your age, conveniently also in Slytherin, which means she's in a good position to form a close friendship with the Malfoy boy._

 _As my son, I am imploring you to ensure that Elizabeth keeps up her friendship with Draco Malfoy and this goes in the direction of potentially turning into something more._

 _I look forward to hearing news of the two,_

 _Father._

Lizzie wasn't sure how to feel, "is that why you asked me about me and Draco last night?"

Ernie shook his head pretty vigorously, "no! No, the letter came afterwards. You know I wouldn't spy on you like that."

"Well it seems like that's what father wants you to do."

"I'm not going to do it."

"Really?"

"Course, I'm not going to spy on you."

Lizzie looked back down at the letter, an empty feeling filling her.

"Lizzie?" Ernie said, concern filling his voice, "are you okay?" I'm sorry, I thought you'd want to know."

Lizzie shook her head, "I'm okay that you told me. I'm not okay with the fact that all I seem to be to father is a tool for raising our family's status."

"Lizzie, he doesn't see you like that."

"Except he does!" Lizzie took a calming breath before continuing, "Ernie, you've read that letter same as me. In what world does any of that imply he cares whether or not I'm happy in my friendship with Draco? Or that I actually have much of a choice?"

"I understand it looks bad."

"Ernie it looks terrible, it looks like my father doesn't care about me or my happiness."

Ernie sighed, "I'm sorry I showed you the letter."

"I'm glad I know my father doesn't care about me, it's fine," and with that Lizzie stood and left the table. She kept walking until she was out of the Great Hall. Admittedly she had no idea where she was going but she had to get away from all the people in there and the pity filled looks Ernie was sending her.

They had double potions that morning so she would have to see her brother again, but then she didn't know how to kill the time.

"Lizzie, are you okay?" Daisy was walking towards her with a few of her friends.

"What? Oh, yeah, just some family things," Lizzie waved her hands around in the air.

"Have you got many lessons today?"

"Double potions, first and second period."

"Do you want to speak about it at lunch or anything?"

"It's fine, honestly, just need to get things straight in my head."

"If you're sure?" Lizzie nodded, "okay, I'll come and check on you later though." With a smile, Daisy left and followed her friends into the Great Hall.

Lizzie looked around her, she could go to the library but that felt pretty pointless. The common room was an option but she'd probably just sit on her bed for a while before the time came to go to potions. Although that was probably the best choice, off to the common room she went.

It wasn't that Lizzie was surprised with what her father had said, it wasn't shocking given his attitude towards her when she made friends with Draco over the summer. It was just the sheer lack of care he seemed to have. Writing to Ernie and fundamentally asking him to spy on her was completely over the line. She just had no idea what to do about it all.

It didn't take her long to get back to the common room, to her bed, and to fall face first on it. Lizzie let out a scream of frustration, feeling thoroughly irritated by the entire situation. Unfortunately, she hurt her throat slightly during the scream of frustration which resulted in a coughing fit. When that finally subsided, she saw with a wave of disappointment that maybe it would be a good idea to begin walking to potions. With a groan she did just that.

Potions was awful.

Professor Snape continued to chuck information at them whilst they made notes, but Lizzie was also being constantly passed notes by Ernie which were asking whether she was okay.

She wasn't, shockingly.

The double passed incredibly slowly. It was actually as though time had just completely stopped, or that the clock had decided to stop moving.

After Snape dismissed the class, Hannah and Susan each linked an arm through one of Lizzie's and dragged her away from the boys, up to the Great Hall. Once they'd sat down at the Hufflepuff table Hannah turned to Lizzie, "spill!"

Lizzie rolled her eyes, spooning food onto her plate so she could eat, "spill what?"

"Whatever has happened between you and your brother."

Susan chimed in, "we saw you leave the table, and then Ernie came over to us..."

"He said he'd messed up but wouldn't say why," Hannah finished.

"I haven't decided if he's messed up or not yet."

"What happened?" Susan asked, concern filled her voice and when Lizzie looked over at her, she genuinely wondered whether or not Susan was about to cry.

"He showed me a letter from our father in which he requests that Ernie pretty much spies on me and manipulates my friendship with Draco."

At this point both girls resembled fish in the way they gaped at Lizzie.

Susan spoke first, "your father asked him to do that?"

"Yeah, oh and apparently all I am is a piece in a game to raise our family's status" Lizzie spat out before taking a calming breath, "I'm grateful Ernie showed me the letter, but it's all a lot to take in right now."

"That's understandable."

"It'll be fine in the end, I just need the time to think all of this over."

Both girls nodded, Lizzie had obviously told them enough information to satisfy their needs.

"What are you going to do?" Hannah asked.

"Honestly? No idea, I just need to figure it out in my head."

The next few days passed relatively slowly, things between Lizzie and Ernie were tense to say the least but he was doing all he could to show her and sorry he was. She was slowly forgiving him, she wasn't even sure if there was anything to forgive but her head was slowly getting clearer towards the entire situation. At the end of the day, deep down, Lizzie knew full well that the person to blame for this whole situation was her father, who felt the need to try and control her life and the relationships within that.

With this in mind she held Ernie back after Herbology on Thursday, "can we talk?"

Ernie looked surprised, which was understandable since she'd been ignoring and avoiding him all week, "of course, Lizzie, you know how sorry I am and how-"

Lizzie held up a hand to stop him from continuing, "Ernie, I know."

He shut up, looking down at his feet and wringing his hands.

"Shall we go eat lunch and talk then?" Lizzie said, going for a similar tactic to what Ernie used on the Monday morning everything had gone a bit downhill.

"Sure," and they began to walk back up to the castle, the other first year Hufflepuffs somewhat ahead of them. Lizzie guessed they were probably discussing the fact that she and Ernie were talking again. Whatever they were speaking about, Lizzie knew Hannah and Susan would be wanting to know what had happened later.

The walk back up to the castle passed in silence, Lizzie trying to get what she wanted to say straight in her head, and Ernie obviously waiting for her to say something in fear of making everything between them worse. They sat down at the table for lunch and filled their plates before Lizzie actually said anything.

"I'm sorry."

Ernie's head shot up so fast he cricked his neck, "what? Ow," he said, rubbing his neck.

"I overreacted on Monday and it wasn't fair on you when you didn't really do anything wrong."

Ernie gaped, apparently not expecting that to happen.

"Ummm Ernie? Can you say something please?"

"You really think I'm not going to accept your apology? Oh Lizzie, you're completely forgiven. I know I made a mistake in how I told you about it."

Lizzie shook her head, her blonde curls bouncing as she did so, "I don't care, you told me and I'm so grateful for that."

"Honestly?"

"Yes, Ernie!" Lizzie half laughed, it was so like her twin to be that worried about having upset her that he needed to check he hadn't over and over again.

"I wrote a reply to father by the way," Ernie told her.

"Saying what?"

"That I'm not going to spy on you and your friendship is none of my concern so I won't stick my nose into it," Ernie straightened his back as he said this, making it clear how proud he was of the fact that he did so.

Lizzie smiled gratefully at him, "thank you."

"It's not any trouble, he probably isn't going to be best pleased with me but you're my sister, I'm going to stick up for you."

"Thank you," she smiled at him again and the rest of lunch passed rather peacefully.


	19. Chapter 19

Saturday brought the beginning of a weekend in the library and so, after breakfast, the Hufflepuff first years wandered up to the library with their books to crack on with the homework they had been set. Admittedly Ernie didn't need to come, he'd done all his work, but he was the only one and had nothing else to do.

They found a good space in the library and separated into pairs to sit on three separate tables, allowing them to spread their stuff out but still be close enough together to check facts with one another. Ernie followed Lizzie to her table and sat down, pulling the list she'd made of the tasks she needed to get done over to himself.

"You've left half of each piece of homework off of this."

Lizzie wordlessly handed him another sheet of parchment, "this is tomorrow's list."

He nodded approvingly, seeing the other halves of the homework on there, "you've split your work load."

"Well noticed, Sherlock," Lizzie continued to unpack her books and put them into different piles depending on what she would need for each bit of work.

"Need any other books?"

"Not as far as I know."

"Need anything?"

"Some silence?" she grinned at him.

"I'll go bug Justin then," he grinned back at her before going to do pretty much the same thing to Justin as he had just done to her.

A few hours later, Lizzie had manage to cross two pieces of work off her list for that day and was very close to being done with her third. Well, she would be but she couldn't quite get her head around the transfiguration formula.

"Ernie?" Lizzie whisper called over to him at Susan and Hannah's table.

"What?" he whisper called back.

"Help me please."

"One minute," he said, turning back to Susan to finish explaining something to her.

Lizzie leaned back against her chair, giving herself a few minutes break before Ernie came over and she went back into work mode.

"Elizabeth?" Lizzie turned around to see Draco standing in a gap between bookshelves over by Justin and Zacharias. Seeing that he'd got her attention, he walked through the space to join her at her table.

"You know Draco Malfoy?" Zacharias said, quite loudly in fact considering they were in a library.

"Yes, Smith, she knows me, get over it," Draco retorted, sitting down in the chair next to her and turning to her. "Can we talk?"

Lizzie gestured to the pile of work around her and he sighed, "how much have you got left?"

"This is today's list of stuff to do," she passed him the piece of parchment.

His eyes flicked back and forth over the list, "have you had a break at all today?"

She looked away from him, not being able to tell him otherwise.

"Hey, other MacMillan?"

Ernie looked round, "what, Malfoy?"

Lizzie roller her eyes, the love between the two of them was blatantly, obviously, so totally not there.

"Have this lot had lunch yet?"

This kicked the five Hufflepuffs into gear, reminding them of food and goodness that should not be put off because of work.

Ernie half-heartedly glared at Draco, "they will soon," then he reluctantly said, "thank you, I wouldn't have remembered lunch."

The Hufflepuffs in question were practically packed up by this point.

"We will come back and do more work after lunch, Ernie, we promise," Justin said, and the others all nodded fervently.

"I'm not going to stop you eating lunch," Ernie said, a smile on his face.

"Excellent," Draco said, "Lizzie, leave your stuff here."

She shot him a questioning look.

"I've had lunch, I'm about to finish some work, I'll sit here."

"Are you sure?" she asked, grateful at the possibility of not having to lug too much stuff around.

"Course," he smiled, "take the stuff you've finished using though, it'll mean less to carry later."

Ernie piped up at that point, "I was going to suggest that."

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "thank you, Draco."

He nodded in return and began to pull some books out of his bag to get on with work.

After dropping off books in the common room and going back up to the Great Hall, the first years sat at one end of their table. However, once they had sat down, Zacharias immediately began to bombard Lizzie with questions.

"How do you know Draco Malfoy?"

"Ernie," Lizzie said, fully focused on eating and getting some energy back to plough through the rest of her work.

Ernie rolled his eyes, "his parents had this summer party ball thing, our family were invited, we went, they met."

"They're friends because they met once?"

"Lizzie, you taking this one?"

Lizzie just stared at him, "food…"

He rolled his eyes again, "they owled over the summer and saw each other once or twice."

"Once," Lizzie chimed in.

Ernie, knowing Lizzie would be taking over answering Zacharias' questions, began to fill his plate.

"And you're friends?"

"I would say so, yes."

"You're friends? With _the_ Draco Malfoy?"

"Yes, Zacharias, I am."

"Wow…"

Justin snorted, "anyone would think you didn't know about it."

Zacharias glared in return, "well I didn't."

"Did you really not?" Hannah said, obviously surprised.

"You did?"

"We all did," Susan chimed in.

"How did I not?"

"Because you never listen to us!" Lizzie was shocked at how angry Susan sounded about it.

"Susan…" Lizzie began.

"No, Lizzie, you don't get it. I have tried very hard with Zacharias to involve him in conversations, but all he ever does is make comments about how stupid things are, or that he doesn't want to waste his time with 'the likes of us' and I'm sick of it!"

The first years went silent. Zacharias had the decency to look ashamed of himself.

"Susan?" Lizzie said quietly.

"I'm sorry," she looked very embarrassed at her outburst.

"Don't be," Hannah said, shooting a glare in Zacharias' direction.

"Susan…" Zacharias trailed off, seemingly unsure of where to go with his sentence. "Susan…" he tried again and failed.

He opened his mouth a third time but Justin interrupted him, "figure out what you're saying, and then talk."

Apparently taking Justin's words into consideration Zacharias paused for a moment, allowing a tension filled silence to descend over the group.

Lizzie met Ernie's eyes, the message clearly going between them that Zacharias was actually quiet for once and Susan, Susan who was always a quiet little mouse, had been the one to shut him up.

"Susan," he'd finally started talking again, "I have behaved terribly and I'm very sorry about that. It isn't fair on you that I brush off your attempts to include me in conversations and I shouldn't make smart comments about it."

The first years were once more in silence, but this time it was due to the fact that they were all stunned.

"Thank you, Zacharias, that means a lot," Susan said quietly.

An awkward silence descended on the group and after a few seconds of twiddling thumbs Ernie cleared his throat, "library?"

A chorus of agreement happened and they wandered up to the library, splitting into their traditional walking groups of boys and girls.

"I'm impressed, Susan," Hannah was saying, "you really stood up to him."

"I feel horrible," Susan murmured.

"Don't!" Hannah said firmly, "he needed to hear that and hearing it from you will have made it sink in more."

"I don't know though," Susan was obviously feeling pretty bad about snapping at him.

"He needed it, it's going to be fine," Hannah continued to comfort Susan as Lizzie searched for something to say.

"Susan, you honestly did the best thing you could," Lizzie began, "if he really was ignoring your attempts at including him then he has no right to complain that he doesn't know anything."

"Thank you, guys" Susan smiled at them both.

Glad to see her friend had cheered up considerably now, Lizzie hung back to speak to Ernie.

"Ernie, can you give me a hand with the transfiguration formula?"

"What about it?"

"Understanding it mostly," she gave a sheepish grin.

He rolled his eyes at her, requesting his help understanding something had become a common thing for her by this point, "sure, but couldn't you ask Malfoy?" he wiggled his eye brows at her and she glared right back at him.

"I could, but you're a genius."

He blushed somewhat at that, "flattery will get you nowhere."

"You're also my brother, help me."

"I'm aware of that."

"Please?"

"Course I will, Lizzie."

"Thank you," she honestly wasn't sure what she would do without Ernie at this point.

It wasn't that Lizzie was stupid, she could be quite smart at times and she loved to read and learn new things. Unfortunately it took her a while to understand things and the speed they were made to go at in lessons made things difficult. That was where Ernie came in. Ernie understood things quickly, and knew the pace at which Lizzie best worked, which meant that he knew how to catch her up with things she didn't fully get.

Once they finally got back to their space in the library Lizzie sat down at her table, where Draco was diligently working on some piece of work.

He looked up and smiled at her as she sat down, which she returned before focusing on Ernie who sat on the other side of her to explain the formula.

"So the formula is that the transformation is influence by a, v, w, c, and Z," Ernie said, as though it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Right," Lizzie nodded, "except what?"

"Bodyweight, viciousness, wand power, concentration, and a final fifth variable."

"What?"

"They make up the transformation."

"Okay," Lizzie understood that, just."

"It's just really that you have to take into account how heavy the thing is, how calm or not calm it is, how much power you have, how much you're concentrating, and I think just the magic or spell or something," Draco said, having guessed what the twins were discussing.

Ernie spluttered slightly before responding, "yes, that."

Lizzie nodded, just about getting it now, "can you repeat that slowly?"

Draco did as she asked whilst Ernie glared at him, seemingly irritated he didn't get to be a teacher anymore.

Lizzie leaned back, satisfied with the formula she had written down which would allow her to understand transfiguring things, "thank you, Draco."

He tipped her an imaginary hat, "anytime, Elizabeth."

Ernie huffed, "is there anything else?"

Lizzie turned to look at him, a small frown forming on her face, "Ernie, what's wrong?"

He shook his head, "nothing, I'm being ridiculous."

"Are you sure?"

He forced a smile, "sure."

Lizzie nodded, not believing him but she'd leave it for now, "thank you for your help."

The smile became more genuine, although it shrunk somewhat, "it's okay, I'm always here."

Lizzie smiled back at him as he walked over to the boys' table, and engaged Justin in conversation about something.

"Everything alright?" Draco was frowning at her now.

She nodded, "it's just been a long week."

"Tell me about it, you'll never believe what happened in our flying lesson."

She threw him a questioning look.

"It was all Potter's fault, he always has this need to show off and be the special one." Lizzie wasn't entirely sure she believed that but it was easier to let him ramble. "He has to prove that he's amazing, just because he's famous."

"Draco, I don't know if that's fair."

"It is, I just wanted to have a joke and he got all funny about it."

Lizzie threw him a withering glance, "what did you do?"

"You know Neville Longbottom?"

"Sort of, he's in Gryffindor isn't he?"

"Yeah, bit chubby, pretty idiotic."

"Draco there's no need to be rude about it, he's very good in Herbology."

"Oh is he?" Draco sounded thoroughly uninterested. "Anyway, he got sent a Remembrall at breakfast that morning and then fell off his broom in the lesson, dropping it in the process, so I-"

"He fell off his broom?! Was he okay?"

"No idea, but he dropped the Remembrall so I thought that, as a joke, I'd hide it up a tree or something." Lizzie couldn't believe how blasé Draco sounded about the whole thing, although she wasn't overly surprised as much as it pained her to admit. "But Potter had to get involved and fly after me," Draco continued to rant about how Potter had ruined everything for a little while, but Lizzie zoned out, recognising it all as the fact that he was irritated that he'd been one upped.

It took her a few seconds to realise that he'd stopped talking and was waiting for her to say something, "oh right, yeah, awful…"

He scowled slightly at her, "you weren't listening were you?"

"Well you were just grumbling about the fact that you tried to play a cruel joke on someone and got stopped."

"You don't approve do you?"

"Not particularly," she said, her focus on her work.

He was silent, and when she glanced up at him she saw that he looked quite disheartened. Well, there was no point in her saying anything for the time being so she got on with her work and after a minute or so he did the same.

The silence over their table was awkward to say the least, or to Lizzie it was anyway. Luckily she couldn't fully focus on it given the fact that work had to happen and she was making quite a bit of headway on the stuff she wanted to do that day.

An hour or so later, Susan, Hannah, and Zacharias had all packed in with their work and gone back to the common room to relax. Ernie and Justin were still at the table next to Lizzie and Draco's, although Lizzie was pretty confident that they were no longer working and were instead playing hangman as some weird way of supervising Lizzie doing work with Draco next to her.

Her work was going well, and she'd started on some of tomorrow's list just so it would mean she could completely finish some pieces of work. Nothing had been said since she'd told Draco she didn't approve of his bullying Neville, because it was bullying. She didn't know Neville particularly well, but he seemed like a decent person, a little dim at times but he was good in Herbology. She made a mental note to try and speak to him next lesson, and to make sure he was okay.

"Lizzie, you need to take a break," Ernie said, having walked over to her table without her noticing.

"Nope, I'm good," she replied, not taking her eyes off of her work.

"Lizzie…"

"Ernie…" she turned to look at him, "I'm fine."

"You've been working continuously since lunch."

"Your point?"

"You need a break."

"I'm fine," she insisted.

He sighed, "how much have you got left to do?"

"Of the overall work amount or today's list?"

"Today's list?"

"Finished it."

"Good, now stop working."

"No."

"Lizzie…"

"Ernie…" the twins stared at one another.

"Take the rest of her stuff away, except what she's working on now," Draco had decided to join the conversation.

Ernie looked at him with respect on his face, actual respect. Lizzie couldn't believe it.

A moment of stillness and silence happened, and then they all moved at the same time, Ernie lunging to hold Lizzie back (and succeeding) as Draco pulled the piles of books and parchment over to his side of the table.

"Justin, help please," Ernie said, struggling to keep hold of his sister.

Justin sauntered over and began to pack Lizzie's bag with the books and parchment Draco had taken from her. She huffed and stopped struggling, conceding defeat.

"I get to finish this piece of homework though," she said, trying to get something out of this situation.

"Of course," Ernie said, "but we'll be taking this back to the common room."

She scowled at him and he simply smiled back at her, "see you later, Lizzie."

"Bye, Lizzie," Justin said, following Ernie back to their common room.

Draco's eyes followed them as they walked out of the little space they'd been in in the library. The second they left and became out of earshot he turned back to Lizzie, "I'm sorry for the way I behaved with Longbottom."

She was left a tad flabbergasted by that, "what?"

"You're not happy about how I acted with him, I'm apologising. It wasn't really towards him though, he wasn't there, it was for Potter."

"I know."

"You know?"

"It's not hard to figure out that you're jealous of his fame."

Draco spluttered, actually spluttered, "I'm… I'm not jealous of him! He's got a scar on his forehead, big woop."

She smirked at him, "you're jealous, but if you want to deny it then go ahead."

He glared at her, "I'm not jealous of Potter, alright?"

She held her hands up in mock surrender, "okay, okay."

"I'm not," he grumbled, looking back down at his work.

"Okay," she did the same but a few second later Draco started speaking again.

"I mean I'm not. I tried to get him kicked out."

Lizzie slowly raised her head to look at the boy sat next to her, "you what?"

"I tried to get him kicked out," Draco said it as though it was nothing more than stating the fact he liked milk on his cereal.

"One more time," she still couldn't quite get the idea into her head.

He rolled his eyes at her, "I challenged him to a duel at midnight in the trophy room, hoped he would get caught and thrown out."

Lizzie felt rather shocked at that admission, "but you couldn't guarantee that he got caught."

"That's why I told Filch."

Lizzie stared at him in disbelief, "Draco… that's utterly ridiculous and completely stupid, you are joking, right?"

"No, I did it," he smirked at her.

"Why?" she felt angry for Harry Potter, she didn't know him but Lizzie felt awful for him having to be baited by Draco like that.

"He gets all this attention and he hasn't done anything to deserve it!"

She face palmed at that point, "Draco, I don't think he exactly wants attention because his parents died."

That shut him up. With another eye roll Lizzie went back to her work, finishing the final piece she could since Ernie had kidnapped all her books from her.

Once she had finished off her work, she began to pack her bag with her remaining things which made Draco take notice of the fact she was leaving. Apparently he felt the need to comment on it as well.

"You're going?"

Lizzie shrugged, "there's not exactly that much more that I can do given I don't have any of my stuff."

"But you're leaving me?"

She rolled her eyes, "Draco, you're in half my classes, it's not like I don't see you."

"But when I'm in class I'm attacked by Parkinson."

"Oh come on, that happens when you're not in class too," she said with a smirk.

He glared at her, "that's not funny."

"But it's true," she said, smiling at him. "I am going now though."

"Wait," he shut his book and began gathering his stuff together, "I'll walk down to the entrance hall with you."

"I'm capable of walking down myself, thank you very much."

"I know," he was still packing his stuff up at this point, "but I can work in my dormitory."

"Are you really leaving this library because I am?"

He looked away from her, "maybe."

She smiled, touched by that, "I'll be coming back up tomorrow to finish off my work."

Draco nodded, "I'll come up too then, after lunch?"

"Probably, I feel like I could sleep for a week after today, my brain is fried."

He smirked at her, "so it's good we took your stuff?"

"Maybe," a mock glare was sent his way.

They began to walk out of the library, banter continue to flow between them quite easily as they made their way down to the entrance where they would split off to their separate common rooms. It wasn't exactly a long walk and they soon reached it, their conversation slowing down as they came to a stop.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow then?" Draco asked.

"Oh, yeah, definitely," she smiled at him, glad he was making an effort to keep her as his friend.

He paused, and then drew her in for a hug, holding her for a few seconds before letting go and walking down the stairs to the dungeons and his common room. She smiled fondly after him, but then did the same and walked down the stairs that would lead to her common room.


	20. Chapter 20

The weeks passed relatively quickly, the Hufflepuffs falling into some kind of rhythm with their meals and lessons each day, some work in the evening, but mostly ploughing through the work at the weekend. Draco somehow fitted in with this pattern. Lizzie wasn't sure how it happened, or how he did, but he saw her semi regularly and always turned up when she was working in the library.

His ever continuing presence had led to some questions from the other Hufflepuffs but they all backed off after she told them that they were just friends. Which they were. Unfortunately, Ernie seemed to disagree which caused constant teasing on his part. She gave it back in equal measure about Hannah though so everything was fine.

Ernie and Hannah were becoming closer though, and it was sweet. Lizzie could tell that Hannah was interested in him, although she didn't know to what extent. To be fair all the first year Hufflepuffs were becoming closer as a group and it was all thanks Susan snapping at Zacharias. That was Lizzie's theory anyway.

One of her favourite moments that in her mind proved this had happened the week before.

 _"Susan?" Zacharias called after the girls, who were walking ahead of the boys on the way back down to their common room._

 _The girls slowed to a halt, allowing Zacharias to catch up to them._

 _"Yes?" Susan said._

 _"I was thinking about what you said earlier, with regards to Professor Binns being unaware of anything except the fact that he teaches, and I was considering asking some of the older students if he' always like this."_

 _Susan frowned, confused as to the relevance of this, "ummm, okay?"_

 _"I just wanted you to know it was an interesting point."_

 _Hannah smirked at him, "so sweet of you, Zacharias."_

 _He glared at her, "sorry I found Susan's conversation interesting," and walked back to the boys.[_

 _"Hannah," Susan gently berated her, "he was just trying to be nice."_

 _"Trying to be nice," Hannah scoffed, "when is that boy ever nice?"_

 _"He has been recently," Lizzie pointed out._

 _"I think it's quite nice," Susan said, cheerfully._

 _Hannah frowned at her, "I think it's quite suspicious."_

 _"I think it's because Susan stood up to him," Lizzie said._

 _Susan blushed, "oh, I doubt it."_

 _"You did well though, he's actually made an effort with us all since then."_

 _"I still think he's up to something," Hannah said._

 _"Hannah, you're just mad at the fact that he listened to Susan and not you," Lizzie said, smiling as she did so to show her that it wasn't malicious._

 _Hannah huffed, but didn't say anything which indicated that she'd conceded defeat._

Professor Sprout had begun to drop into the common room, once a week or so, to show the Hufflepuffs new plants she had either found or been working with. It was really interesting and Professor Sprout always took time out of her visit to check in with the students, making sure everything was going well and they were managing to keep up with their work.

She was especially diligent with checking on the first years, and they all would say that everything was fine. Ernie snitched on the fact that Lizzie was struggling after a few weeks of her reassuring Professor Sprout that everything was fine.

 _"Honestly, Professor, I'm okay," Lizzie was telling her head of house for the third time that evening. She noticed Ernie glaring at her out of the corner of her eye, which she probably deserved given that she was fobbing the truth and had been stressing out all week about the workload and the fact she didn't understand anything. That being said, she didn't expect Ernie to actually tell Sprout._

 _"Professor, she's been stressed out all week and has yet to spend an evening away from the library," Ernie burst out, apparently unable to contain himself any longer._

 _It was Lizzie's turn to glare at him before looking back at Professor Sprout, "I'm fine, I just can't get my head around some bits of work quick enough in lessons and have to relook at things outside of them."_

 _Professor Sprout smiled gently at Lizzie, "some teachers do go rather quickly in lessons, it's understandable if you struggle to keep up."_

 _She paused, apparently thinking over the situation, "is there a specific subject you struggle in?"_

 _Lizzie shook her head, "all of them really."_

 _"And what part do you struggle with? The practical? The theory?"_

 _"The theory, once I get that I can manage okay with the rest."_

 _Professor Sprout nodded, "okay, I'll work something out to make sure you keep on top of everything."_

 _"No, Professor, I'm fine honestly," Lizzie was slightly panicked by the idea of something being done to help her when she was managing fine (okay, not fine but managing) as she was. "Ernie goes over everything with me and makes sure I get it."_

 _Professor Sprout smiled kindly at Lizzie, "of course, but we need to make sure that this is nipped in the bud."_

 _The confusion Lizzie felt must have registered on her face._

 _"The theory for most subjects is reasonably simple and then it's just a case of building on this with the practical work. It may be that you struggle throughout your time here but the least we can do is try and help you now, and if it is something that will continue then we will work out another way to help."_

 _Lizzie felt a lot calmer after that, and although she hit Ernie on the arm after Professor Sprout had left, she was secretly grateful for his intervention._

A few days after talking to Professor Sprout, Lizzie had received her first official piece of owl post at breakfast.

 _Elizabeth,_

 _Having spoken to your teachers about the quality of your work and how you're faring in lessons I am inclined to say that you are worrying over nothing. Every single one of your teachers appears to believe that you are doing fine and have no trouble with the pace they go at in their lessons. However, I understand that you are becoming stressed as a result of the situation at hand and I'm going to speak to some older students in our house about the possibility of a tutoring session once a week._

 _This won't be a big deal, don't worry about that. Students often feel overwhelmed at the beginning of first year and it is something that passes relatively easily but we'll just make sure you're getting the support you need now. I am hoping to have someone to tutor and go over lessons with you by the end of the week._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Professor Sprout._

Lizzie read the letter quickly and passed it to Ernie, who grinned.

"See? Told you telling Sprout would be a good idea."

"Yes, Ernie, you're right, congratulations," she replied, rereading the letter again.

His smile faltered, "are you mad I told her?"

Lizzie gave a small smile, "no, I'm not."

"Okay good," Ernie looked incredibly relieved.

The other Hufflepuff first years weren't paying much attention to the twins, and Lizzie was incredibly thankful for that as she felt somewhat ashamed of having to get tutoring help. Ernie seemed to read that on her face.

"Lizzie, nobody cares. We're all your friends and we're not going to judge you for it."

She shook her head, not really believing what her brother was saying.

"Lizzie," Ernie took hold of her hand at this point, "I promise you, nobody will care."

Lizzie glanced at the people sitting near them, none of the first years had noticed anything odd. "It's not that I think they'll care, I just feel awful for having to get help when nobody else is struggling this much."

"Lizzie, it's fine. Sprout said it herself, it happens to people."

Lizzie laughed at that, "it happens to people."

"What?"

"Just the way you said it," Lizzie smiled, "thank you."

Ernie nodded, a smiling forming on his face, "any time," and they both turned back to the rest of the group.

True to her word, by the end of the week Professor Sprout had found an older student to help tutor Lizzie. The next time she came to the common room, she called Lizzie over to her to introduce her to the student in question. This student turned out to be Cedric, who had helped her a few times when she had first arrived at Hogwarts.

"Elizabeth, this is Cedric, he's a fourth year and I think he'll be able to explain everything to you fairly well."

Cedric smiled at her, "it's nice to see you again."

Professor Sprout smiled, "ah good, you know one another, I'll just leave you two to talk then. Martin, I wanted to speak to you about your essay on the venomous tentacula," and she walked over to a lone student.

Lizzie smiled shyly at Cedric, "I don't really know how much Professor Sprout has told you."

"Just that you're struggling to keep up with some of the theory in a few subjects, is that right?"

"Try all the theory in most subjects," Lizzie grimaced.

Cedric nodded understandingly, "I get that, I had the same issues as you when I first got here?"

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, it took me a while to get to grips with everything."

"Wow," Lizzie thought for a second, "that's actually quite reassuring I guess."

Cedric smiled down at her, "when do you want to go over everything?"

"When are you able to?"

He laughed, "When do you normally do your work?"

"The weekend, or evenings if something's due in the same week or I'm struggling to get it."

"Saturday then?"

She nodded, "Saturday's good."

"After lunch?"

"Yeah sure, we normally start work in the mornings but if I do that then I can figure out what bits I'm struggling with."

Cedric shook his head in disbelief, "try having the morning off, it might make things clearer if your brain's less frazzled."

She smiled sheepishly, "I'll try but I make no promises."

"Okay, I'll meet you at the table after lunch?"

"Sure," Lizzie smiled, thanked him again and walked back to the other first years.

Ernie looked up at her as she walked over and sat on the floor in front of his chair so she could lean against it. He smiled at her, sending a questioning glance to silently ask whether she'd got everything sorted. Lizzie returned his silent question with a smile and a nod. She felt a lot more comfortable with the whole situation now, especially since a fourth year she knew had dealt with this.

"Who was that and what did he want?" Hannah asked, rather bluntly in Lizzie's mind and the slight movement from the chair behind her showed her that Ernie thought so too.

Lizzie sighed, resolving to explain the entire situation to the group then and there. "That was Cedric, he's a fourth year who Professor Sprout has asked to tutor me in an attempt to stop me struggling to the extent that I am right now with work."

There was a silence after that, which made Lizzie begin to panic that she was going to be judged pretty majorly. Finally, Susan spoke.

"I'm glad, that should do a lot of good."

The other first years began to say their own variations of that and Lizzie felt a lot more relaxed. So what if she was struggling with the work at the moment? She was getting it done and she had friends to support her whilst she bumbled through it all. That was the main thing.


	21. Chapter 21

Tutoring sessions with Cedric made everything go so much quicker and it meant she was beginning to understand lessons. This is in turn made the work easier but everything just went quicker all of a sudden and two months had gone by.

Draco had been visibly shocked when he turned up to the library and there was a fourth year sat with her. In fact he walked into the little corner of the library the first years had unofficially claimed as their own, saw the two at a table, and walked right back out. Ernie had run after him to explain, and got told off by Madame Pince in the process.

When Lizzie had seen Draco afterwards, he was ashamed at his behaviour more than anything. This shocked Lizzie somewhat as she'd been sure that if anyone was to judge her it would be Draco. Instead he'd said that if there was anything he could do, she should just tell him.

Halloween came about before she knew it.

Lizzie had even forgotten that Halloween was coming up, but when the girls woke up on Halloween morning the smell of pumpkin had entered their dormitory.

"What's that smell?" Hannah had asked, acting as their alarm that morning (something which had become a habit since she woke up at a set time every morning).

Susan and Lizzie took a minute to wake up, as they did every morning when Hannah shouted them awake.

"What smell?" Lizzie was not good at functioning in the mornings.

"Wake up, Lizzie," Hannah threw a pillow at her, something else that happened every morning.

The pillow hit her and she jolted up, "I'm awake!"

"Now what's that smell?" Hannah repeated her question.

"Why does it smell of pumpkin?" Susan had woken up enough to talk.

"Pumpkin!" Hannah exclaimed.

"Yes, that's what I said," Lizzie could practically hear the eye roll in Susan's voice. "Why does it smell of pumpkin?"

"Halloween," Hannah said, pulling herself out of bed and walking over to the bathroom.

"It's nearly November?" Lizzie couldn't quite believe it.

"Lizzie, you write the date on each piece of work you do," Susan said, beginning to climb out of her own bed. "And get up."

Lizzie threw her arm over her face, "but bed."

"Susan, chuck another pillow at her," Hannah shouted from the bathroom.

Knowing full well that Susan had fantastic aim and would throw every pillow in her possession at her, Lizzie rolled onto her front and pushed herself up. "I'm moving."

"Anyway," Susan said, rather loudly in Lizzie's opinion but she supposed Hannah was in the bathroom, "why does it smell of pumpkin, even if it is Halloween?"

Lizzie had finally managed to sit up, "it's a Halloweeny thing though isn't it?"

"I guess, but why can we smell it?"

"We're right by the kitchens," Lizzie had finally managed to stand up and move over to find her clothes and get her uniform out.

"We are?"

"Yeah, the entrance is right by the barrels."

"How do you know that?"

"Hogwarts: A History."

"Oh right then," Susan seemed impressed by that.

A comfortable silence descended over the three girls as Hannah came out of the bathroom and they each began to pull on their school uniform and pack their bags for the lessons that day. Once they'd all got ready they collected the boys from the common room and went for breakfast before lessons started.

Charms meant the beginning of something they'd all been looking forward to: making objects fly. The week before or so, Professor Flitwick had levitated Neville's toad around the room and Ernie hadn't shut up about the fact that they would obviously be doing it soon because Flitwick had demonstrated it.

They were put into pairs: Hannah and Zacharias (something Lizzie was sure Hannah adored at that moment in time); Justin and Ernie; Lizzie and Susan. Susan was lovely to work with, and if Lizzie ever struggled she was good at breaking it down and talking her through stuff.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practising!" Professor Flitwick squeaked at that, whilst perched on his pile of books so he could be seen. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too – never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

The spell was difficult to get to grips with, but the entire class was struggling so it didn't make Lizzie feel too bad. One of the Gryffindor boys even set the feather they were practising with on fire, Harry Potter had had to put it out with his hat.

In fact, nobody in the class had actually managed to get the charm to work, although Susan's feather jumped slightly at one point. Or that was, nobody managed to get the charm to work until Flitwick cried out, "oh, well done! Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"

They all got set homework to practise the charm for next lesson. Lizzie just hoped she'd be able to get it by then.

The rest of the day passed fairly quickly with everyone excited for the Halloween feast that evening. Obviously the first years didn't know much about it, but according to some of the older students it was always quite extravagant.

As it turned out the decorations were amazing, thousands (it seemed) of live bats fluttered from the walls and the ceilings, as well as swooping over the tables and making the candles in the pumpkins flicker but staying lit. Zacharias was convinced they were kept alight by magic.

The first years eagerly tucked into the feast when it appeared on the table, it was incredible. Unfortunately they didn't get much of a chance to eat because Professor Quirrell, the defence against the dark arts teacher, sprinted into the hall. His turban was askew and there was a look of sheer terror on his face. The hall quieted, student by student as more and more people noticed him.

By the time he reached the top table, where Professor Dumbledore was sat, everybody was quiet and could clearly hear his words of "troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know" before he fainted.

It was like an explosion went off, screaming and shouting filled the hall, and it took several purple firecrackers shooting from the end of Dumbledore's wand to shut everybody up.

"Prefects, lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!" he instructed.

Daisy called down the table, "first years, this way! Just like the start of term feast."

Everyone gathered around her and she did a quick head count before they began to walk to the entrance of the Great Hall.

"Keep behind me now, nobody go running off!" Daisy kept reminding them all.

"How could a troll get in? Aren't they completely idiotic?" Zacharias' voice obnoxiously called out, reminding Lizzie too much off the start of term feast.

"Completely," Cedric had come up behind them. "Hey," he said to Lizzie, "you okay?"

"Bit freaked out, but pretty good," she replied.

"Ernie," Cedric nodded at the boy he'd replaced as Lizzie's tutor.

"Cedric," Ernie nodded back, a tad stiffly and Lizzie frowned at him. She wasn't quite sure why he was being so offish with Cedric.

"But then how could a troll get in?" Zacharias had decided to join the conversation.

"No idea," Cedric and Ernie said together, before glancing at each other and grinning.

'That was more like it', Lizzie thought.

The big group of Hufflepuffs finally made it out of the Great Hall and into the entrance hall, where some Slytherins were making their way down the stairs to the dungeons. Lizzie saw Draco in the group, and he looked in her general direction but she wasn't sure whether he actually saw her.

"Are they going to be okay going down to the dungeons?" Lizzie asked, finally taking her eyes off of the group. "Isn't that where Quirrell said the troll was?"

"Dumbledore wouldn't have let them go down if he thought there was a risk to them," Ernie reassured her, seeming to guess why she was so worried about it. He took her hand and gave it a squeeze, "they'll be fine, Lizzie."

Lizzie nodded, looking back at the stairs towards the dungeons.

"Reckon there'll be food in the common room? We didn't exactly get to eat much of the feast," Justin asked, worry seeping into his voice.

Their little group laughed, the sheer light-heartedness of that compared to what they had just been talking about making them all forget the panic going on around them.

As it turned out food was sent to them all in their common room, and so Justin's fears were calmed.

After eating her fill of the feast, Lizzie went to her dormitory to try and get an early night. The whole panic of the troll had worn her out somewhat, although Professor Sprout did drop in to reassure them that the troll had been found and subdued in a girls' bathroom. Apparently the bathroom had been somewhat wrecked by the troll and would therefore be out of order until it could be rebuilt.

She had just got into the room and was halfway to her bed when a giant crack sounded out in the silence, making her jump and nearly fall into one of the posts around Hannah's bed.

Clutching her hand to her chest, Lizzie turned towards the source of the noise and was only half surprised to see a house elf standing in the middle of the room. She had recognised the sound as the one Minky would make when she disappeared and reappeared, on the rare occasions that she didn't run about the house.

"Who are you?" she asked, slowly beginning to calm down from her moment of terror.

"Dobby, miss, Dobby the house elf," the elf replied.

"Okay, hello Dobby, what can I do for you?"

"Mister Draco asked me to check that you were okay after the troll incident," he squeaked.

"Oh," touched that he'd sent his house elf to check on her, "thank you, Dobby, you can tell Draco that I'm fine."

"Yes, miss," Dobby bowed and, with another crack, disappeared out of the room.

Lizzie smiled and shook her head, flattered that Draco had been worried about her with the whole troll in the school issue. She walked back over to her bed, grabbing her pyjamas and heading for the bathroom. Except she didn't get there because another crack was heard and Dobby appeared directly in front of her.

"Jeez! Hi, Dobby, everything okay?"

"Yes, miss," the house elf squeaked, "Mister Draco wished me to deliver this letter to you, miss," he held out a folded piece of parchment to her.

She took the parchment from him, "thank you, Dobby, is there anything else?"

The house elf blushed, or that was the best word to describe whatever happened anyway, "miss is too kind to Dobby."

Lizzie smiled at him, "please, call me Lizzie."

"Miss Lizzie is too kind to Dobby."

"Is there anything I can do for you, Dobby?"

Dobby shook his head, his ears flapping as he did so, "no, miss Lizzie."

"Okay, well it was lovely to meet you."

"Thank you, miss Lizzie, goodbye."

"Goodbye, Dobby, and have a good evening."

"Thank you, miss," and he disappeared with another crack.

Lizzie stayed smiling at the spot where the house elf had been for a moment longer, before placing the letter from Draco on her bed and going into the bathroom to get changed.

After she had cleaned her teeth, changed, and washed her face, she walked back to her bed, leaning against the wall behind her pillows and unfolding the letter.

 _Elizabeth,_

 _I just wanted to make sure you had made it back to your common room okay and unfortunately I can't quite get my owl from my common room so I had to send Dobby. I hope you didn't find him too irritating._

 _I've told Dobby that he should appear if you call for him and so he can act as a letter delivery service if necessary. I'm going to try and start owling you again so we can talk more but Dobby's probably the easiest solution for the evenings._

 _I'll try and find you tomorrow,_

 _Draco_

Lizzie smiled at the letter. She didn't particularly love the way he seemed to take advantage of Dobby, but she knew his parents probably weren't very kind to the house elf so he wouldn't know any different.

"Lizzie?" Susan and Hannah had come into the room.

"Hey," she replied, folding the letter up and putting it on her bedside table.

"What's that?" Hannah asked as Susan grabbed her pyjamas.

"What's what?" Susan said on her way to the bathroom.

"Draco sent me a letter," Lizzie explained, not really seeing the need to hide it from them.

"Saying what?" Hannah obviously just wanted to read it so Lizzie passed it over to her without another word.

"I'm reading it after!" came a call from the bathroom.

Hannah gave it back to Lizzie, "he's big on you guys talking more, do you not talk enough as it is?"

"Over the summer we'd send each other two or three letters a day. Now we only talk when we see each other, which is mostly out of class, so I can sort of see where he's coming from."

"He steals you a couple of times each weekend though, sometimes for hours on end."

"Hannah, your turn in the bathroom. Lizzie, pass me the letter," Susan barked out her orders as she returned and threw her school clothes. Hannah and Lizzie smirked at each other before doing as she had said.

"Who's Dobby?"

"Draco's house elf."

"Those are like, little servants, right?"

Lizzie laughed, "something like that, they're all really endearing though."

"Oh, awesome," Susan went back to reading the letter.

Lizzie got out of bed and tired her mess from the day up whilst the two girls were preoccupied. After Hannah had finished in the bathroom, and Susan had read the letter, she knew they would all discuss it.

Sure enough, once Hannah had come back out and chucked her stuff at the foot of her bed, all three girls convened on Lizzie's bed.

"Okay, so he's quite pretentious," Hannah began.

Susan laughed, "he's very intent of this idea of you owling."

"That's what I said," Hannah was obviously quite pleased with the agreement.

"I don't get why though," Lizzie said, honestly at a loss for the reason behind it, "I feel like we talk enough."

"Apparently stealing her every weekend isn't good enough," Hannah joked, although Lizzie felt like there might be some underlying seriousness to the comment.

"Lizzie?" Susan noticed how quiet she had gone.

"I'll talk to him about it all when he finds me tomorrow."

"And say what?" Susan's voice was filled with concern for her friend.

"I don't know," Lizzie ran her fingers through her hair, "maybe that I don't think we need to talk any more than we do."

"If you think that's best," Hannah said, getting up and moving over to her bed, "I'm going to get some sleep."

"You'll be fine, Lizzie," Susan gave her a hug and moved to her bed, "night you two."

"Yeah, night," Lizzie echoed, climbing under her duvet and laying back against her pillows. She wasn't sure why she felt so adverse to owling him again, but then they spoke a lot anyway and she didn't see the need to speak anymore. If it were the Christmas or summer holidays then she would understand. Plus, owling meant taking time to write responses, and she needed to focus on getting through her work. Tutoring had helped but she still needed to keep on top of everything. Maybe she'd just explain this all to him, and suggest they hang out once a week or something. Yes, that's what she would do, and with this decided, Lizzie quickly fell asleep.


	22. Chapter 22

Draco caught up with her at dinner the next evening. She wasn't even aware he was coming over until she felt his hands on her shoulders and heard a soft "hey" coming from behind her. As she looked round to figure out who it was that had just made her jump about a foot in the air he started laughing at her reaction and couldn't actually speak again for several minutes. During this time in which he was attempting to compose himself, Lizzie scolded Justin and Ernie who were reacting in a similar way.

"Seriously, shut up. It wasn't that funny."

"Yes" breathe "it" breathe "was," Justin spluttered out.

Lizzie rolled her eyes at them and finished off her Bakewell tart, moving over so Draco could sit by her while him got his breath back.

Once the three boys had finally calmed down enough to speak pleasantries were exchanged and Draco turned to Lizzie to speak to her.

"Do you want to go for a walk down by the lake or something?"

Lizzie glanced at Ernie, who she'd shown the letter to earlier that day. He'd agreed with her about what she was going to say, also noting that Hannah might be right about him stealing her for a couple hours every weekend. Justin how joined the conversation at that point and mentioned that with tutoring she was managing to keep up with her work much better than she used to and it would be nice if they could all spend the weekends relaxing in the common room or lounging outside when the weather was nice enough.

"Lizzie?" Draco's voice snapped her out of her train of thought.

"What? Oh, yeah sure," she said, smiling and standing to leave "I'll see you later?" she aimed that at Ernie and Justin.

"Course," Justin nodded, "we'll let the others know where you are."

"And make sure they haven't killed Zacharias," Ernie added.

"Worse things have happened," she muttered, just loud enough for them to hear. Their laughter followed Lizzie and Draco as they left the Great Hall and began the walk down to the lake.

"Are you okay?" Draco broke the comfortable silence that had grown between them on the walk.

"Yeah, you?" Lizzie felt awkward, but she wasn't sure why. Maybe it was just the fact that she was going to have to tell him they didn't need to talk more?

"Good, and yeah I am. I'm glad you got back to your common room okay."

Lizzie chuckled slightly, "at least my common room isn't where Quirrell said the troll was."

"We did wonder about that, but Slytherin has never been treated particularly nicely according to some of the seventh years. Dumbledore probably wouldn't have cared if we had all been attacked by the troll."

"Draco, you can't say that! I'm sure that's not true," Lizzie exclaimed.

"According to the seventh years, Slytherin has always been treated as though we're the bottom of the barrel. We may have won the house cup for the past six years, and we're not bad at Quidditch, but God forbid we're treated nicely by any of the houses."

Lizzie looked at her feet, "I've never heard anyone in Hufflepuff say anything horrible about Slytherin, and we're not exactly well treated either. As far as everyone is concerned we're a bunch of pansies who skip about all day playing hide and seek."

Draco seemed to lose some of the anger that had been filling him, "I'm sorry, I know it isn't you who's doing this, it's just frustrating."

"I know," Lizzie said quietly.

"Hey, come here," Draco pulled her into a hug, "I am really sorry, I didn't mean to take my anger out on you and I know your house isn't treated amazingly either."

"By your house may I add," Lizzie wasn't sure what made her say it but she did, mumbling against Draco's shoulder as she did so.

"I'm sorry," Draco whispered, and Lizzie truly believed he was. She knew it wasn't him who teased her about being a Hufflepuff. She knew she rarely got teased. However, she also knew that some of the older Hufflepuffs still had to deal with childish comments being made about them, and surely it would only be a matter of time before her year had to start hearing them.

"Thank you for apologising, Draco, but we both know you haven't done anything that means you need to."

Draco finally broke the hug, letting her moving away from him, and they continued on their walk to the lake.

"Dobby seems really nice," Lizzie opted for an entirely new subject.

"You think?"

"He's very eager to please."

"Elizabeth… he is a house elf."

"Well I know that!" Lizzie looked over at him and he was smirking at her, "just he's so happy, he reminds me of Minky."

"Minky?"

"My house elf back home."

"I didn't know you had a house elf," Draco actually looked surprised.

"My family's fancy enough to be invited to your summer thing, why shouldn't we have a house elf?" She smirked back at him.

"I don't know…"

"Wow, have I made THE Draco Malfoy lost for words?"

"Shut up," he shoved her lightly, which totally didn't nearly knock her off balance. Draco grabbed her before she fell over though. "You have a house elf?"

"Yes Minky, we've been over this."

Draco laughs, "so you could get Minky to deliver letters for you in the evenings?"

Lizzie didn't reply, they were nearing the lake now and they moved over to a rock where they could sit and talk properly.

"About that," Lizzie really wasn't sure how to broach this.

"What's wrong?" Draco knew, she wasn't sure how he knew, but he knew.

Well, the best way to get something over with is to do it quickly, like ripping off a plaster.

"I don't think we need to start owling and writing letters to each other like in the summer."

The look on his face showed that maybe she shouldn't have ripped the plaster off.

"I'm sorry, Draco. We talk a lot anyway, and I like being able to use the evenings for work or spending time with the other first years in my house."

He still wasn't saying anything.

"Draco? Please say something?"

"I'm an idiot."

Privately Lizzie agreed somewhat, Draco could be a complete idiot at times.

"No, you're not," Lizzie reassured him.

"I am, I thought you'd want to talk more. I was convinced of it."

"It's not that I don't want to talk more, just not by owling. I need to keep up with my work, tutoring has helped but there's still a lot of work to be done."

"I didn't even think of that," Draco buried his face in his hands.

Lizzie shuffled over to him and rested her head on his shoulder, "it's fine, you weren't to know. You manage fine with all the work."

"I just feel like I never get to see you out of classes."

Lizzie laughed, she actually laughed at that, "Hannah and Ernie think they never get to see me at the weekends because you're always stealing me away."

Draco lowered his hands and smiled, "I guess I do spend a lot of time with you on the weekends."

"You guess?"

"Okay, fine, I do."

"Do none of your friends mention anything?" Lizzie had always wondered about the Slytherin first years.

"Pansy insists on me spending time with her, so I get Crabbe and Goyle to cover for me and run away from her."

"You get Crabbe and Goyle to cover for you?" Lizzie stared at him in disbelief.

Draco chuckled, "I tell them I'm going down to the Quidditch pitch."

"Fair enough, does it work?"

"They're not clever enough to lie, if they think I'm going to the Quidditch pitch then that's what they'll tell her." He paused, apparently thinking more a minute, "Blaise is better at covering for me so he helps every now and then."

"How is Blaise?" Lizzie hadn't really seen or spoken to him yet this year.

Draco tensed slightly, "he's alright, he keeps saying I should bring him along when I go to see you at some point."

Lizzie smiled, "that would be lovely, you should."

"Really?"

"Oh definitely, he seemed really lovely when I spoke to him last."

"Oh…" Draco trailed off, causing Lizzie to frown.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Draco said, "I'll get Blaise to come to the library with me next time we go up."

That reminded Lizzie, "I was going to ask, do you want to maybe set aside some time that we can spend together? It'll stop everyone complaining that you steal me away."

"You'd want to do that?" he smiled.

"Of course," she smiled back at him, "you're my friend, I like spending time with you."

Was it just Lizzie's imagination or did Draco's smile become slightly forced? No, she doubted it. He still looked very relaxed.

"Any ideas as to what we could do?"

Lizzie thought for a minute, looking around them for an idea. Then it came to her, "could we do this?" she vaguely gestured to where they were now.

"Sit on a rock?"

"No," Lizzie laughed, lightly knocking her shoulder against his, "come down to the lake, when it's nice weather obviously, and just talk."

He knocked his shoulder back against her's, "I'd like that, once a week?"

She nodded, "sounds good, shall we say Sundays after lunch?"

"Sounds good," he echoed, and the two of them sat in silence for a little while longer.

"Elizabeth-" Draco began, but a shrill squeal interrupted whatever he was about to say.

"Oh Drakey!"

"Oh no," Draco groaned, hiding his face in his hands once more, "I am so so sorry about whatever's going to happen."

Lizzie was slightly confused to say the least, "what's going on?"

"Pansy Parkinson," he dramatically whispered as the girl in question squealed again upon finding them.

"Drakey! You're here! I've been looking for you everywhere!" she seemed to finally notice Lizzie, "who's that?"

"That, dear Parkinson, is Elizabeth Macmillan," Blaise's voice rang out as he walked down to join the group.

"Blaise!" Lizzie called out, running to meet him.

"Hello," he replied, catching her in a hug which she returned. "Don't look now, I think Draco might be jealous," Blaise whispered in her ear.

Lizzie rolled her eyes at him, "don't you mean Drakey?"

"Ah yes," Blaise raised his voice back to normal level, "Pansy have you met Miss Macmillan?"

Lizzie swatted at him with her hand, "I'm Lizzie," she introduced herself.

Pansy looked her up and down, "are you a pureblood?"

Lizzie was slightly taken aback by that, Draco stepped in before she could answer though, "what do you want, Pansy?"

Pansy pouted at him, Lizzie forgotten for the moment, "Drakey, you left me all alone after dinner."

"Oh, did I?" he didn't sound in the least bit sorry. From beside her, Lizzie heard Blaise snort. She elbowed him, trying not to laugh herself.

"Yes, and you left me for that," she threw her head in Lizzie's direction.

Draco tensed up, "Pansy, Elizabeth's last name is Macmillan, did your parents teach you nothing?"

"She's not in Slytherin."

"No, she's in Hufflepuff, but that doesn't change the fact that her family is made up of pureblood wizards and they were invited to _my_ family's summer ball."

That shut Pansy up. Admittedly she spluttered for a few seconds but afterwards she hung her head in shame.

"Should I call you Elizabeth or Lizzie?" seemingly, Pansy resigned to being nice to her.

"Lizzie, please."

"Okay then," Pansy looked around her, "well Drakey, are you coming back up?"

Draco looked over at Lizzie, who smirked at him, "actually, Draco, I should probably head back up to the school anyway."

He glared at her, "oh really?"

Lizzie could feel Blaise shaking with laughter next to her but she was managing to keep a straight face by some miracle, "oh yes, I should do a bit of work and Pansy obviously wants to spend time with you."

A tiny giggly escaped Blaise's mouth, "can't argue with that, Draco."

Draco glared at the pair of them, whilst Pansy (oblivious to everything) squealed, "oh good Drakey, come on!"

She grabbed him and dragged him away while he sent daggers back at Lizzie and Blaise with his eyes.

"If looks could kill," Blaise muttered.

"Tell me about it, they both would have killed me," Lizzie said, her eyes still on the pair.

"What do you think of Pansy?"

"I think she doesn't like me very much."

Blaise glanced at her, "she sees you as competition, that's all."

Lizzie looked over at him, "what? Why? Me and Draco are just friends."

"Honestly?"

"Yeah, just friends," Lizzie explained slowly, trying to get her point across.

"Okay then," Blaise said, "we should probably head back up to the castle."

"Yeah," and they moved off, making small talk about the year so far and how they were both getting on.

"Lizzie, you'll know!" Justin's shout greeted her as she stood up from the entrance to their common room.

"I'll know what?" she asked, walking over to where the first years were seated.

"When was Hogwarts built, 893 or 993?" Zacharias asked.

"Why are you asking?" Lizzie sat at the foot of the sofa Susan and Hannah were on.

"Ernie thinks it was 993, I think it was 893."

"And the reasons for each assumption?"

"It was founded in the 9th Century."

"No, it was founded in the 10th Century," Ernie retorted.

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "nobody knows which century it was founded in. It was either the 9th or the 10th but the school was built in 993."

"Ha! I told you," Ernie gloated.

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "how long have they been debating this?" she directed the question as Susan and Hannah.

"Hmm, what?" Hannah said, seeming to wake up.

Susan laughed, "she drifted off 10 minutes ago and by that point they'd been going at it for about 20 minutes."

"Did nobody think to check a book?"

The group went silent.

"Guess that answers my question."

"It would have taken a lot of time to find the right book," Zacharias spluttered, "we thought of it, just didn't do it."

Lizzie raised her eyebrows at him, "Hogwarts: A History?"

The group was silent again.

"Well done, guys," Lizzie slow clapped them.

"How did your time with Draco go?" Ernie asked, obviously trying to get the subject off of how idiotic they'd been.

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "you're all still idiots for not clocking that _Hogwarts: A History_ was an option. It was good, I spoke to him about not needing to owl in the evenings."

"How'd he take that?" Susan asked.

"Very apologetically," Lizzie smiled at the memory.

"Did you talk about much else?" Justin wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Another eye roll. "Obviously, we do know how to talk about stuff."

"Such as?"

"General life."

"What aren't you telling us?" Ernie frowned at his twin, "something's wrong."

"Lizzie… what happened?" Hannah said, leaning forward so she could talk to her properly.

"I met Pansy Parkinson."

"Who?"

"This girl in our year who's basically in love with Draco."

"Do I detect a hint of jealousy?" Ernie smirked at her.

Lizzie scoffed, "no, she's just such an awful person."

"Someone's jealous," Susan teased.

Lizzie lost all humour, "the first thing she asked me was whether or not I was a pureblood."

"She what?" Susan had sobered too.

"But you are?" Zacharias said, clearly confused as to why this was an issue.

Lizzie shot a glare in his direction, "really? I had no idea."

Zacharias held up his hands in surrender, "sorry, but you are."

"It was just the way she said it, like if I wasn't I was somehow less of a person," she shuddered. "Sorry, Justin."

Justin shrugged, "you guys are all cool with it."

"What does she look like?" Hannah asked, seemingly trying to remember whether she knew who this girl was.

"Kind of like a pug," Lizzie smirked, "not in the cute smushed way, in the general really smushed way."

"So an ugly pug?" Justin laughed.

"Pretty much," Lizzie said.

"Dark hair?" Ernie piped up.

She nodded.

"She's not very nice."

"Well I know that."

"She's probably just jealous of you," Hannah said.

"Could you be any blunter?" Justin laughed.

"That's what Blaise said, but I don't know why she would be," Lizzie groaned.

She saw the group share a smirk.

"What?"

"She's so obtuse," Ernie said, fondness creeping into his voice.

"She's right here," Lizzie glared at him.

"We're just saying, you and Draco are very close and it's difficult to believe there aren't any feelings there," Susan explained.

"But there aren't!" Lizzie said.

Another smirk was exchanged, and Lizzie was beginning to get angry.

"There really aren't!"

Ernie gave a nervous glance her way, "okay, we're sorry."

Lizzie shook her head, "I'm going to bed."

Ernie called her name after her as she walked away but she didn't respond. There was no point when they weren't listening to her or accepting anything that she was saying. She knew this just made it seem like she did have feelings for him but she honestly didn't.

An hour or so later Hannah and Susan entered their shared dormitory. Lizzie glanced over in their direction and then turned back to her book. She was still slightly mad at them but she was feeling slightly calmer.

Hannah went into the bathroom and Susan came over to and sat on Lizzie's bed.

"We're all sorry, Lizzie. Ernie told us how much you hate being told how you feel about things and we all feel awful."

"I shouldn't have flipped out in the way I did."

"It wasn't fair that we pushed you."

Hannah came out of the bathroom at this point, "we're really sorry, Lizzie."

"I'm sorry too," Lizzie said, and she was.

"Well, now that's cleared up I am going to take my turn in the bathroom and go to bed," Susan said, smiling and getting off of the bed.

Lizzie smiled after her and Hannah took her hand, "we all love you."

She simply rolled her eyes in response, "yeah, I love you all too."

Hannah smiled and went over to her bed.

Lizzie pulled her duvet over her and lay back against her pillows, incredibly grateful for how lovely her friends were. They very easily could have been mad at her for storming off like that but they weren't. She knew they were maybe more than she deserved but she was never going to not be thankful for their support.


	23. Chapter 23

"Lizzie, you could at least try and look excited," Ernie was saying over breakfast.

Lizzie sent him a glare, "it's Quidditch, Hufflepuff aren't playing, why should I care?"

"Because it's Quidditch!"

"That's not a good reason."

"Cheer up, Lizzie," Justin said, "it'll be fun."

"Oh, I don't doubt that."

"Then cheer up," Ernie smirked at her before tucking back into his breakfast.

Lizzie glared at her brother, which Susan saw and laughed at.

"I don't understand why you're so grumpy about it."

"Because I don't really have any interest in it."

Ernie scoffed and she glared at him again, "I will happily watch it when Hufflepuff play but I know that tomorrow I'm either going to have to deal with a Draco who won't stop sulking, or a Draco who won't stop bragging."

"He's not even on the team though," Susan pointed out.

"I know, he'll still be really grumpy or really sad."

"Harry Potter is on the Gryffindor team isn't he?" Zacharias asked.

"And that is why Draco will be so annoyed if Gryffindor win," Lizzie said, rolling her eyes at the boy's immaturity.

"Why?"

"From what I can gather from his grumbles," she screwed up her face in an impression of him, "Potter refused to be my friend and so I'm going to sulk over the rejection for the rest of my life."

The first years all burst out laughing at that, and Lizzie admitted silently to herself that maybe the match wouldn't be that bad.

They all made their way down to the Quidditch pitch after finishing their breakfast, although they didn't entirely know where to go once they got there.

The actual pitch was relatively easy to find since the goal hoops stuck out of the ground and the stands surrounding it had to be high enough that the spectators were nearly on eye level with where the players would be.

"Lizzie!"

Lizzie turned to see Cedric and a group of his friends walking over to them.

"Hey," she said, smiling.

"Hey," he replied, "we thought you may want to get some help learning where our house watch the matches from?"

"That would be amazing, we were just wondering where to go."

"This way," Cedric beckoned with his hand and the first years fell in with his group of friends.

Lizzie noticed that Hannah immediately started talking to one of Cedric's friends, and from the looks of it she was somewhat interested in him.

"Looking forward to the match?" Cedric asked her, pulling her attention from Hannah and the boy to him.

She grimaced in response and he laughed, "not a Quidditch fan then?"

"It's not that I'm not a fan, it's just that Hufflepuff isn't playing so I don't see why it's relevant to us."

He laughed again so Lizzie glared at him, "you're my tutor, care to explain why I should care?"

"It's the inter-house Quidditch cup, so whoever wins the most points over the course of the six matches wins the Quidditch cup."

"So whoever wins this match, we need to do better than them if we want to win?"

"Pretty much," Cedric shrugged, "that's the basics of it anyway."

"Okay, well I care now," Lizzie smiled, "what are the teams like?"

"The Gryffindor team is okay, they've got about half the same players from last year, but they were flattened by Slytherin last year so today should be interesting."

Lizzie nodded, "because Slytherin have something to live up to but Gryffindor now have Harry Potter?"

"Yep, and Oliver Wood, the team captain, seems to think he's some secret weapon so Potter must be pretty good."

They were coming up to the stadium at this point and Ernie fell into step with them.

"Cedric, have you actually managed to convince my sister to care about the match?"

Lizzie rolled her eyes and Cedric chuckled, "I explained why its outcome affects us and she jumped right on board."

"Yes, yes, I'm interested now," she stuck her tongue out at both boys, "but serious question, who is the guy Hannah's talking to?"

Cedric glanced in the pairs' direction, "oh, that's Mark."

Lizzie nodded, making a mental note to talk to Hannah about it later that day.

"What's Mark like?"

Cedric smirked down at her, "you thinking him and Hannah?"

"I'm thinking Hannah seems interested," she mused, then panicked, "don't tell him or anyone I said that!"

He laughed at her, "course I won't."

"Great, now where do we sit?"

"Mark," he called over to the guy still talking to Hannah, "you're closest to the stand, lead the way."

Mark nodded, smiling at his friend and walking over to the stand closest to them.

"So this is where we sit for each match?" Ernie asked, making Lizzie jump.

"Yeah, each house has its own stand and so do the teachers."

They all followed Mark up the stairs and onto the platform where the seats were. Sitting in the line they'd walked up in, Lizzie was between Cedric and Ernie.

"So what do I need to know?"

Ernie glanced at her, "wing it."

She glared back at him, "thanks."

Madame Hooch was refereeing the game. She was waiting in the middle of the pitch for the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams to walk out onto the field, which they eventually did, a sign that the game was about to begin. Lizzie could see her speaking to the two teams once they joined her on the pitch, but from the height she was at and with all the talking around her she had no idea what was being said.

"Look at that," Ernie pointed across the field to the Gryffindor stand.

"Is that a bed sheet?" she said, staring at the _Potter for President_ banner with a lion on it that flashed different colours.

"Hermione Granger will have done that spell," Zacharias leaned forward, bringing himself into the conversation, "she's decent at charms like that, isn't she?"

Personally Lizzie thought 'decent at' was an understatement but okay then.

"It's starting," Justin nudged Zacharias, and they all turned to face the pitch. The teams and Madame Hooch had all mounted their brooms. With a short blast on her whistle, Madame Hooch signalled that they should all kick off into the air. The game had begun.

"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor – what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too -"

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry, Professor."

"That's Lee Jordan," Cedric told Lizzie and Ernie. "He's been doing the commentary since his first year here." He paused, "often gets in trouble with McGonagall for what he says."

"-a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve – back to Johnson and – no, Slytherin have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes – Flint flying like an eagle up there."

"He rarely says anything nice about any player other than a Gryffindor one."

"Is he allowed to be that biased?"

"Probably not," Cedric smiled.

A groan went up from the Slytherin supporters as Flint tried to score but the Gryffindor keeper saved it and the Gryffindor chasers got the Quaffle back.

"- that's Chaser Katie Bel of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and – OUCH" the Gryffindors groaned "– that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger – Quaffle taken by Slytherin – that's Adrian Pucey speeding off towards the goalposts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger – sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which – nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Qyaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes – she's really flying – dodges a speeding Bludger – the goalposts are ahead – come on, now, Angelina – Keeper Bletchley dives – misses – GRYFFINDOR SCORE!"

Gryffindor cheers filled the air along with the howls coming from the Slytherin stand.

"Is this good or bad for us?" Lizzie turned to Cedric. She didn't know much about Quidditch, but she knew enough to know that the Gryffindor team were good. Really good.

"Depends on the outcome of when we play them," Cedric murmured.

"Slytherin in possession – Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys and Chaser Bell and speeds towards the – wait a moment – was that the Snitch?"

"It went right past Pucey's ear," one of Cedric's friends told them, lowering his binoculars.

Murmurs shot through the crowd and the two Seekers dived after it. The Chasers all stopped in mid-air, obviously finding the potential catching of the Snitch more important than scoring goals.

Harry Potter was just getting slightly ahead of the Slytherin Seeker, Terence Higgs, when Marcus Flint flew right in front of Harry and blocked him, causing Harry to spin off course, clinging onto his broom for dear life, and the Snitch to disappear once more.

Slytherins cackled at Flint's actions, and the Gryffindors were screaming at the injustice of it. Lee Jordan was finding it very difficult to stay impartial, much to Lizzie's amusement.

"So – after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating -"

Professor McGonagall was having none of it, "Jordan!"

"I mean, after that open and revolting foul -"

"Jordan, I'm warning you!"

"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession."

"Why would Flint do that?" Ernie wondered aloud, "I understand that it looked like Harry was going to win, but that was cheating."

"Slytherins don't like to lose, and Marcus Flint will happily play dirty."

"Slytherin in possession," Lee Jordan was saying, "Flint with the Quaffle – passes Spinnet – passes Bell – hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose – only joking, Professor," that made their little group of Hufflepuffs laugh, "Slytherin score – oh no…"

The Slytherins cheered loudly.

"What's wrong with Potter?" one of Cedric's friends leaned forward to ask.

His broom was moving higher and higher, jerking in the air. Then it began to roll over and over, him only just really managing to hold on by the looks of it, before giving another jerk and making Harry fall so he was only holding on with one hand. The entire stadium gasped and stood up, what good it would do Lizzie didn't know but it happened.

"Why's his broom doing that?" Susan asked, terrified.

"No idea, it's a brand new Nimbus so it shouldn't be," Cedric said.

"Could it be because Flint blocked him?"

"Brooms have to change direction quickly," Mark explained, "it shouldn't matter that he got blocked."

The Weasley twins had flown up to Harry's height and were trying to pull him onto their brooms, but every time they got close to him, his broom jumped higher. Seemingly giving up with that plan, they dropped lower and circled beneath him.

"Good idea," Zacharias said, "if he falls then they should be able to catch him."

Harry was swinging his other arm up, still trying to grab hold of his broom so he wasn't dangling one handed, when he succeeded. A wave of relief passed over the crowd and he clambered back onto his broom.

Lizzie leaned back in her seat, relief flooding her body and she felt like she could breathe freely again.

"You okay?" Ernie asked.

"That was stressful," she replied, blowing out a breath.

Up in the air, Harry had gone into a dive. He sped towards the ground and suddenly clapped his hand to his mouth, like he was going to be sick. Falling the final few feet, he hit the pitch on all fours and coughed.

"I've got the Snitch!" he shouted, waving the tiny golden ball above his head.

"And Gryffindor wins with one hundred and seventy points to sixty!" Lee Jordan was shouting, barely able to be heard above Gryffindor cheers.

After the match the school went back into the Great Hall for lunch. Cedric's fourth year bunch stayed with the first years (Lizzie noticed Hannah and Mark were still talking), and Lizzie was finally able to learn the rest of their names (Dexter and Jack).

"So," Ernie asked when they'd all loaded their plates and began to eat, "what did you think of your first game of Quidditch?"

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "I could have done without the stress of one of the players possibly dying."

"In all fairness, that doesn't normally happen," Jack laughed.

"I don't get why it would happen," Ernie said, clearly still confused about the whole thing. Lizzie was fairly confused to, but the way she saw it, Harry was safe so all was good.

"Me neither," Cedric agreed.

"Surely all that matters is that Harry is safe?" Lizzie asked, adding her view of it all to the discussion.

The boys shrugged and the conversation moved on to discussing highlights of the game, which Lizzie couldn't care less about and so she shuffled down the bench to speak to Susan, Justin, and Zacharias.

"I'm just saying," Zacharias was explaining, "Quidditch would be a whole other sport if it was played on flying carpets."

"Yes, but then the Chasers could keep the Quaffle on their carpet which would mean nobody else could get it," Justin argued.

Susan sent Lizzie a small smile as the boys continued their ridiculous debate.

"They hold it when on a broom though, is it really that different?"

"How long have they been going on like this for?" Lizzie asked Susan.

"Since about halfway back from the Quidditch pitch," Susan groaned, her head in her hands.

"Why would they need the extra space that comes with a carpet thought?"

Lizzie shook her head, completely exasperated, "yes, if Quidditch was played on a carpet it would be different, but that would also create a different sport. In this sport the players could bring items with them on the extra space created by the carpet and throw them at each other because they can."

The boys were silent for a few moments before Zacharias spoke, "I'll agree with that."

Justin nodded, "same, thanks Lizzie."

"Can we not talk about Quidditch?"

"Okay then."

"Thank you," Lizzie smiled over at Susan and mouthed 'all sorted'.

Susan smiled back at her, "are we going to the library this afternoon or taking the rest of the day off?"

Zacharias, Justin, and Lizzie all groaned.

"Day off it is then, I guess."

"Probably shouldn't, I need to practise charms."

"Can we do that in the common room though?" Justin said.

"I suppose," Lizzie relented. If Cedric was there then she could get him to help her and everything so that would be fine.

"So day off, technically?" Zacharias said.

The four first years nodded in agreement.

"Oooooh, treacle tart," he then exclaimed as the deserts came to the table.

Seeing all their bewildered looks Zacharias blushed, "I like treacle tart."


	24. Chapter 24

"Draco, I'm just saying, it's getting cold so maybe walks down to the lake aren't such a good idea."

"Lizzie, it was your idea!"

"I'm aware of that fact, and I'm now saying it's a stupid idea when it's this cold."

Draco shook his head at her, "no wonder you're not in Ravenclaw."

"I resent that!"

Draco had come to get her after lunch on the Sunday, as they had agreed, but they had only managed to make it to the entrance hall. The sky in the Great Hall was a really light grey, which sparked another debate between Justin and Zacharias about whether or not that meant it would snow (Justin said yes, Zacharias said no, and Hannah had to mediate this time by saying maybe in a few days' time).

"What do you suggest then? Now your original idea has been ruined."

She glared at the blonde boy stood next to her, "well since I'm not in Ravenclaw, am I even qualified to come up with the ideas?"

He rolled his eyes at her, "you're better at it than me."

Lizzie held a hand over her heart, "did I just get a compliment from Draco Malfoy?"

"Oh shut up."

"And not just a compliment, I was told that I'm better at something than _the_ Draco Malfoy."

"Yes, Elizabeth," Draco tugged her towards the stairs, "I gave you a compliment."

"Where are we going?"

"To wander around Hogwarts," he explained.

"I thought I was coming up with the idea?"

"Too late."

She glared at him, but shrugged and followed him up the stairs. It wasn't an awful idea after all.

About 20 minutes later the pair had settled in a small alcove along a side corridor. It was out of the way enough that they were unlikely to be disturbed and could catch up fairly easily.

"I mean she's always there wherever I go and it's very stalker like!"

Draco had just finished an incredibly long rant about how Pansy wasn't leaving him be and that he was convinced she was following him.

Lizzie glanced up and down the corridor, "Draco, she's not here now."

He spluttered slightly, "but she normally is."

He looked around, paranoia clear on his face, and Lizzie couldn't help but laugh.

"Calm down, I'm sure she's harmless."

He pouted like a little child, "maybe, I guess."

Lizzie laughed again, "she's harmless."

"Anyone in your house like that?"

"Like what?"

"Overly there."

She frowned, "overly there?"

Draco smiled, "yeah, always there and you can't get rid of them."

"Great choice of words," she smirked at him, "but no, I like everyone and they're all around a good account."

"Really? There's nobody that gets on your nerves?"

"Does my brother count?" Lizzie smirked, and Draco laughed.

"I guess, but I'm an only child so I wouldn't know much about having a sibling."

"What's that like?"

Draco's face dropped a fraction, "it's alright, I guess."

Lizzie frowned at him, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing!"

"Draco Malfoy, tell me what's wrong."

"It's lonely."

Silence stretched between them as she processed what he'd said.

"I imagine it can be," she began, choosing her words carefully. "Is that why," she paused, "why you wanted to start owling and stuff here?"

He shrugged.

She shuffled closer to him and leaned her head on his shoulder, "I'm sorry it didn't click before."

"Not your fault."

Neither of them said a word, just happy and comfortable in each other's company. It was Draco who eventually broke the silence.

"What's it like having a brother?"

Lizzie thought for a moment, "annoying at times, brilliant at others, I guess it's slightly different because he's my twin. It's like he's another part of me and he always knows how I'm feeling, or I know how he's feeling."

"Is it nice having someone like that?"

"Not always, most of the time it is but there are other times when I wish he couldn't read my every thought and expression."

"Like when?"

It wasn't that Lizzie minded opening up to him, but it felt like this conversation was getting way too personal.

"Like when I'm being quizzed on all matters of life," she nudged him gently with her shoulder.

Draco held up his hands in mock surrender, "okay, I'm sorry, I'll drop it."

"Thank you."

Lizzie wasn't sure what else to say at this point, and from the lack of speech coming from Draco, she guessed he was in the same situation. Casting her mind around she grabbed a random topic and went with it.

"How's Blaise?"

Draco seemed to tense up slightly. In fact, given how closely they were sat together, Lizzie knew that he had.

"He's good."

"Are you? You never seem to like it when I mention Blaise."

"What do you mean?" he snapped.

Lizzie leaned back slightly and held her hands up in mock surrender, "sorry, you just always seem to get really tense whenever I ask how he is."

"I just find it interesting how interested you are in my friend," Draco said through gritted teeth.

Lizzie shuffled back slightly, "how interested I am in my friend too? Who I never see but who you see daily?"

"I'm being a dick aren't I?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Lizzie folded her arms across her chest.

Draco sighed, "he's good, he keeps telling me I need to bring him along when I'm going to see you."

"You can if you want to, or we could all hang out some time? Separate to our time?"

He smiled, "you called it our time."

"Well what else would you call it?"

"Our time," he poked her leg.

She swatted his hand away, "that's why I said it"

"I know," he grabbed her hand, "I'm sorry."

Lizzie looked at him, he seemed sincere, but she looked down at the floor, frowning.

"Don't make me feel bad for wanting to get on with one of your friends, who I like to class as one of my friends too."

Draco pulled her into a side hug, "I know, I shouldn't have snapped the way I did."

"You're still a dick," she mumbled against him.

"I know," he murmured, and he opened his mouth to say something else but voices came down the corridor and they broke apart.

"Look, if we lose against Ravenclaw then it'll be a bad start to the season and we'll never live it down."

"Mark, you're talking rubbish."

Lizzie's ears perked up, and sure enough Cedric, Mark, Dexter, and Jack walked round the corner. She leaned against the wall of her and Draco's alcove and watched them wander down the corridor.

"I'm not, if we lose then all the other houses will write us off as competition.

"Now I know I'm no Quidditch expert," Lizzie spoke up, "but won't that mean we're more likely to be underestimated? And so sort of good?"

Dexter tripped over his feet in surprise at her voice, but the other boys seemed relatively unfazed and opted for laughing at him.

"You make an excellent point, Lizzie, we might make a Quidditch fan out of you yet," Cedric smirked at her.

"Well, I try," Lizzie smiled right back, she turned to face Mark, "how's Hannah?"

The boys all gave him arm punches and laughed at him. Lizzie smirked, enjoying his look of discomfort knowing full well that he and Hannah had gone for a walk after dinner the night before and Hannah had not stopped talking about him afterwards.

He blushed, "she's good."

Lizzie nodded knowingly, smirking over at the blushing fourth year.

"We should let you hang around more often," Cedric said, walking over and pulling her into a hug before holding her at arm's length, "you okay? Managing with work and everything?"

She nodded again, "just about, Ernie's been helping me out with the odd problem."

Cedric mock gasped, "Ernie! Well I feel rather rejected."

She nudged him with her shoulder, "you should, he's a much better tutor than you." At his expression she gave a small giggle, "I have known him my entire life."

"This is true," he smiled down at her before glancing at Draco and nodding stiffly, "I'll see you in the common room later?"

"Sure thing, bye guys," she waved goodbye to the fourth years, who continued their walk along the corridor.

Lizzie returned to the alcove and sat back down, turning to Draco to continue their conversation. At least she would have continued their conversation but he was glaring down the corridor.

She rolled her eyes, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he bit out, "who are they?"

"Cedric, Mark, Dexter, and Jack, they're fourth years in Huffepluff."

"How do you know them?"

"Cedric's the one who helps tutor me."

Draco nodded slowly, "okay, but why do you know the others?"

"They helped us find our house's stand at the Quidditch match and then we sat with them at lunch afterwards."

"And now you're close to them?" Draco's voice wasn't forced, per say, it just didn't seem very natural and Lizzie frowned at him.

"I would say so, why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Lizzie sighed, "okay, whatever, I'm going to head back down to my common room."

She stood up and began to walk down the corridor but Draco shot up and grabbed her wrist, "why do you have to go?" He sounded sad.

"Because you seem really off today and I'd rather spend time with friends who don't blow hot and cold."

"Elizabeth…" his voice trailed off and she turned to see his face completely crestfallen.

Sighing again, Lizzie hugged him and he responded immediately.

"I just can't deal with you getting mad about me having other friends," she explained.

"I'm not mad at you," Draco said.

"It feels like you are, and I'd just like to spend time with people who aren't right now," she said, walking away from her friend and back to the Hufflepuff common room.

By the time she got back to the common room, her mood had improved somewhat, but she knew she wouldn't want to talk about what had happened. Amazingly she hadn't even made it three steps into the common room before Hannah accosted her and dragged her to their dormitory, followed by Susan.

"Why am I being kidnapped?"

"Hannah has gossip she needs to tell us," Susan said, before adding "and I don't think it classes as kidnapping since we're taking you to our dormitory."

"Feels like kidnapping to me," she grumbled.

"Deal with it, I have to tell you guys something," Hannah said.

"Alright, alright," Lizzie pulled out of her grasp and sat on Hannah's bed, "what's up?"

"Mark pulled me aside after lunch," she began, except didn't get to finish because Susan squealed and Lizzie gave a shout of "I knew it!"

"What happened?" Lizzie asked, eager to know everything, "I saw him upstairs and he blushed when I asked about you."

"Well, he pulled me aside after lunch and asked if we could start spending a bit more time together."

"More time together?" Susan questioned.

"Yeah, like Lizzie and Draco do," Hannah paused, "except more romantic, and less issues."

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "thanks, Hannah."

"You two do end up having a lot of issues."

"Okay, true, but back to the subject of you and Mark."

Hannah smiled, "he says he knows I'm three years younger, but he'd like to try things with us and see how they go."

Susan squealed again, "that's so cute!"

Lizzie smiled, "I'm really happy for you."

"Thanks, guys, I'm pretty excited to say the least."

"You should be," Lizzie said, "we're only been here two months and you've already got a potential boyfriend."

Hannah blushed, "I don't want to jinx it."

Lizzie held up her hands, "apologies, no jinxing."

"He's just so… yeah, you know?"

The other two girls glanced at one another, "not really?" Susan spoke for the two of them.

"Oh," she grinned sheepishly, "he's just amazing."

"Well we're happy for you," Lizzie repeated, "just don't go ditching us for him."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Hannah grinned at the other two girls.


	25. Chapter 25

Lizzie and Draco hadn't properly spoken since she walked away from him. It wasn't that they weren't speaking, Draco had spoken to her a few times and she'd always replied, but they'd only actually seen each other in class and she hadn't wanted to bring it up when they had limited time to speak.

After Hannah had babbled about Mark for a good half an hour, Susan had asked how her afternoon with Draco was and she'd told them everything.

 _"Sounds like he's jealous to me," Hannah had decided after Lizzie filled her and Susan in on everything._

 _"Jealous of what though?" Lizzie asked._

 _"He likes you, Lizzie," Susan said._

 _"Well, yeah, we're friends."_

 _"As more than friends," Susan added, whilst Hannah nodded along._

 _"No," Lizzie shook her head, "no, he doesn't."_

 _"Why not? Why shouldn't he?"_

 _"Because we're friends."_

 _"That won't stop him thinking more of you."_

 _"We're just friends," Lizzie insisted, "that's it."_

 _"Okay then, what are you going to do about his jealousy?" Hannah asked._

 _"No idea, I want to apologise for how mad I got though."_

 _"What? Why?"_

 _"Because I should have listened to him rather than just storming off."_

Lizzie did regret it, but she just hadn't had the chance to speak to him properly and sort it all out. However, since they'd spoken since then, she didn't feel the need to rush into talking to him.

Saturday brought the next Quidditch match (Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw) and Lizzie was quite excited to watch. She had to admit that she'd enjoyed the first match, and given that her own house were actually playing and this meant something to her, she was fully prepared to be supportive.

The girls woke up fairly early the morning of the match to get ready. Or, at least, Hannah woke up and then she woke Susan and Lizzie up. The usual lot of complaining happened but they all were up and ready before half an hour had gone by.

"I still don't see why you need to wake us up so early," Susan grumbled as they made their way to the common room.

"Because then we're ready for the day," Hannah said.

Susan grumbled in response, and as usual when they got to the common room the boys were nowhere to be seen.

"See? This is why we shouldn't bother getting up as early as we do," Lizzie said, flopping down on a sofa and curling into a half-hearted ball.

"This way we're ready to go to breakfast when they are," Hannah said.

"Yes, but we also could have slept for longer."

"I'm sure they won't be long."

"You say that every morning," Susan slumped onto a sofa, leaning back against the cushions.

"And I'm usually right."

"Until it comes to a Saturday, when you tend to be wrong."

"Anyone would think this happened often," Lizzie smirked into the cushion she had face planted on.

"Shut up, Lizzie," Hannah said, good naturedly though, there was no malice in her voice.

"This happens every week, maybe we should start lying in on a Saturday."

"Probably," Susan agreed.

"I'll think about it," Hannah smirked.

"Agree to it, please."

"Thinking."

"Agreeing."

Lizzie rolled her eyes as she listened to the standard Saturday morning argument. It had taken a few weeks but they'd managed to get her to leave them alone on a Sunday, so the idea was that they could hopefully get her to agree to leaving them be on a Saturday too.

"Morning," a cheerful voice rang out across the common room.

"Mark!" Hannah cried, followed by the sound of footsteps running over to where Lizzie guessed the voice had come from.

Lizzie pushed herself up so she could sit on the sofa and look a bit more normal (despite what she consider a ridiculously early hour). Mark had come down into the common room with Jack, who was walking over to her and Susan and leaving the pair to their morning greetings.

"How come you two are up so early?" Lizzie asked, as Jack sat down on the sofa next to her.

"Have to go eat and then get ready for the match."

"What?" Susan joined the conversation.

"Yeah, me and Mark are on the team."

"What positions do you play?"

"He's a beater, I'm a chaser."

"You any good?" Lizzie said, giving him a gentle nudge with her elbow.

He gave a laugh, "I've scored a few goals."

"Congrats, you sound decent enough."

"Thanks, I try."

A silence fell over the three of them and they could hear Mark and Hannah's mutterings to one another before the pair came over to them.

"I'm going to go have breakfast with Mark and Jack," Hannah said, "is that okay with you two?"

Susan and Lizzie shared a glance before both nodding at her, "yeah, that's fine."

"Great, see you later guys," Hannah waved at that, leaving the common room with Mark in tow.

Jack stood up, "I guess I'll see you guys in the stands."

"Best of luck," Lizzie said, and Susan nodded along with her.

"Cheers, girls," and he left the common room too.

Susan and Lizzie were both quiet for a moment before Susan spoke up, "do you feel kind of let down?"

"Yeah…" Lizzie trailed off, and they lapsed into silence again.

"I get that she wants to spend time with him, but…" Susan just shrugged at the end of her sentence and Lizzie nodded.

The girls sat in silence, keeping their thoughts to themselves until the boys entered the common room.

"Ready to go to breakfast?" Ernie said, "where's Hannah?"

"Already at breakfast," Susan explained, standing up and following the group to the tunnel that marked the entrance/exit to the common room. Lizzie followed, Zacharias hanging back to keep her company even though the group we only about 5 feet in front of her.

"Why's she already at breakfast?" he asked, keeping his voice fairly quiet.

"Mark and Jack came down and went to breakfast early, Hannah went with them."

"For Mark?"

"Why else?"

Zacharias nodded and went silent.

"Shall we catch up with them?" Lizzie asked after a moment.

"We're nearly at the Great Hall anyway."

She nodded and didn't speak again until they'd sat down at the table, a little way down from Mark, Hannah, and Jack.

"Feeling more enthusiastic about this game?" Ernie said, nudging Lizzie with his elbow and grinning at her.

She elbowed him back, but also gave him a grin, "yes I am, thank you very much."

"Good, because this gave is important."

"Well I know that you dimwit."

"Ouch, there's no need to be mean," he mock glared at her.

"Thank you for that lovely bit of information."

"You're completely welcome."

The twins smiled at each other.

"You guys are weird," Susan smirked, "eat, be normal."

"Lizzie, no eat? Maybe when pigs fly," Ernie said.

"Only because she won't be able to get any bacon anymore," Justin joked.

Lizzie shook her fork at them, which just happened to have bacon on the end of it, "yes, I like food, problem?"

"Never, my dear sister, never."

"Good, now let me eat my bacon in peace."

After bacon had been eaten and the group reassembled (in other words Hannah had re-joined them), the first years began to walk towards the Quidditch pitch, gentle banter flowing between them, the issue of Hannah leaving them forgotten. That being said she had apologised quite a bit when she came over to them at the Hufflepuff table, and they'd all said they forgave her, but personally Lizzie wasn't quite sure how she felt about the fact that they'd been left in the lurch.

"Should be have anything house pride wise?" Susan said.

"What?" Lizzie didn't think any of the first years really knew what Susan was on about.

"You know, like a banner? Or face paint? Could we put yellow face paint on?"

"You want to wear yellow face paint?" Zacharias asked, disbelief clear in his voice.

Susan held her head up high, "I want to show my support for my house."

"But, yellow face paint?"

"Fine, not face paint, a scarf or something."

"Ummm Susan?" Lizzie said, nodding towards her neck, where a scarf was hanging.

"Yes, but a house one."

"I'd wear one," Justin interjected, before Zacharias could make another comment.

"Same," Hannah nodded, "we should be able to find one somewhere."

"Until then, maybe a yellow hair accessory? We don't need to resort to face paint," Lizzie said, smiling at her friend.

"Sounds good to me," Susan agreed.

By this point they were making their way up the stairs to reach the Hufflepuff section of the stands.

"Any preference as to where we sit?" Ernie asked, since he was leading the way.

"In seats," Lizzie replied.

"Haha, thank you for your input," he glared at her, "any normal people wanting to tell me a preference?"

"Wherever you want," Justin said, shushing Lizzie before she could make another comment.

Ernie lead them to similar seats that they had sat in before, only given that there were a few less of them they didn't take up quite so many.

"How good is our Quidditch team?" Zacharias asked.

"Amazing!" Hannah said.

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "no idea, but Mark's on the team so we're hoping pretty good."

"That and because it's our house's Quidditch team so we want to do well," Justin added.

"And because we know Mark and Jack," Susan interjected.

"In short, go Hufflepuff," Ernie finished.

As much as they wanted Hufflepuff to win, it didn't, and from what Lizzie could tell, their team wasn't bad per say, just Ravenclaw was better.

"You did really well," Hannah was saying to Mark over lunch, where the fourth year boys were sitting with the first years again.

Lizzie was sat by Cedric, who was saying something about the work they were going to go over that afternoon in tutoring. It suddenly clicked that it might be a good idea to listen.

"Sorry, what?"

Cedric smiled at her, "where did you tune out?"

"You said something about this afternoon we would go to the library?" she grinned, sheepishly.

"I was thinking we would go over your potions essay and work on that."

"Sounds good to me, is that all we'll do?"

"I'd be happy to check some of your charms spell work?"

"Okay, I think I've just about got the flying one."

"Wingardium Leviosa?"

"Yeah, that flying one."

"I'll check it for you, do you know if Draco will be popping up and joining us at all?" Cedric asked, and Lizzie grimaced.

"We had a slight falling out last week and haven't really sorted it out yet."

He frowned at her, "are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. We've spoken briefly a few times this week but not enough to talk about what happened."

"What did happen?"

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "he didn't like me being friends with some people, Hannah and Susan think it was jealousy."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was," Cedric said, grinning at her.

She elbowed him in the side, "don't you start as well."

He continued to grin at her, "eat, and then we'll go to the library."

"Happily," she stuck her tongue out and began to eat her toad in the hole.

"You need to change this bit here," Cedric pointed to her essay, "it's good that you talk about the different strengths of different vials, but compare them a bit more."

"Other than that?"

"Other than that it looks fine," he smiled at her.

"Great, I'll finish this off."

They lapsed into silence whilst Lizzie rewrote the section of her essay onto another piece of parchment (she'd properly write the entire thing later that day).

"To be fair, you could change this bit as well?" Cedric said, pointed to the initial essay he'd been looking back over.

Lizzie sighed and glared at him, "is it important that it should be changed?"

"Not really, just would look better if it was."

"Then no need to be changed," she smiled at him, "there's no point in creating extra work for myself."

He chuckled, "Snape will make a comment on it."

"I don't care, I'll take note of it then."

"He'll like you more if he didn't have to write that comment."

"Still not caring," Lizzie continued to rewrite her paragraph.

"I still think you should do it."

"Still not going to."

"Snape will comment on it."

"Let's move on to charms," Lizzie said, pushing the sheet of parchment to the side.

"You sure?"

"Yes!" said Lizzie, rolling her names and feeling completely exasperated at the whole thing.

"I'll shut up now," Cedric teased.

"Sounds good."

It turned out Lizzie was now somewhat competent at the levitation charm and so they weren't in the library for very much longer.

On their way back down to the Hufflepuff common room they passed a group of Slytherins, a few were apparently in Cedric's year and they greeted one another as they walked by. Once they'd reached a fair distance from the group Cedric began to speak.

"Slytherins have a bad reputation in the school but I've always found them okay to get along with. Sure, some of them aren't all that nice, but the majority are alright."

"That's the impression I'm getting at the moment."

Cedric glanced at her, "you'll be alright with them, having a Malfoy as your friend will hold you in good standing."

"They're that influential? I mean I always knew they were, but to that extent?"

"Definitely, some of the ones in my class have discussed ways to get Malfoy as their friend."

Lizzie pulled a face, "sounds like my parents."

"Is that why you became friends?"

"No, they wanted Ernie as his friend and me as a potential relationship, but I became his friend."

"No potential relationship in there?" he grinned at her.

She gently hit his arm, "no, no potential relationship."

"How about an actual relationship?"

"No actual relationship either. How about you? Any girls?"

"There's this one, she's in Ravenclaw, but I don't know."

"Why not?"

"She's absolutely stunning and completely out of my league."

"Have you ever spoken to her?"

"Not really," they both laughed.

"Try it sometime, it might work," Lizzie nudged him with her shoulder.

They were nearly across the entrance hall and reaching the stairs down to the basement where their common room was located.

"Lizzie!"

The pair stopped and turned to see Draco and a few of his friends emerging from the stairs down to the dungeons.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

Lizzie turned to Cedric, "I'll see you later," and he left with a nod. She turned back to Draco, who was in the middle of dismissing his friends.

"I don't know, go walk in the grounds or something, just go away."

Crabbe and Goyle shuffled back down the stairs, evidently heading back to the Slytherin common room.

Both Lizzie and Draco started talking at the same time.

"I'm sorry for how I acted, it wasn't fair on you."

"I was awful, I'm sorry, of course you can have other friends."

They grinned at each other.

"Everything good?" Lizzie said.

"I shouldn't have acted how I did, I just got jealous and cranky and took it out on you."

"No you shouldn't have, but I forgive you."

"So, truce?"

"Truce."

Lizzie gave him a hug, "but if you get funny about me being friends with people in my house again I'm not going to be so forgiving."

Draco grinned sheepishly, "that's fair enough, but if you ever feel the need to say I can't be friends with Parkinson then I want you to know that's more than okay."

"Shut up, she isn't that bad I'm sure."

"Except she is," Draco shuddered, "I despise her clinginess."

"Good for you, are we still on for a walk somewhere tomorrow after lunch?"

"Always," he grinned, "I should probably go and find Crabbe and Goyle, they're hopeless without me."

"Probably," she smiled at him, "I'm glad we sorted this all out."

"Me too."

And with another hug they each returned to their common rooms.


	26. Chapter 26

The rest of the week went relatively smoothly, lessons happened, homework was set and completed, and people got on. Cedric continued to check over her homework and give her pointers on how to improve her work, but there was less tutoring going on and more chattering given that Lizzie was finally getting the hang of the work and the speed they went at in classes.

The only real new thing that week was that they'd been given projects in Herbology and put into partners by Professor Sprout. Most of the Hufflepuffs had been partnered with each other (Ernie and Zacharias, Justin and Hannah) but Susan and Lizzie had each with partnered with Gryffindors (Lavender and Neville respectively). Lizzie had spoken to Neville briefly in the past, but it was mostly small talk in the way of "can you pass me some gloves?"

They'd arranged to get to work on the project Thursday after dinner in the library, somewhere around the Herbology section. When Lizzie got there, Neville was nowhere to be seen so she got to work finding books on the Moly plant, which was what they were having to research.

"Hi, sorry, have you been here long?" Nevillle said, walking over the table Lizzie had nabbed for them.

"No, don't worry," she said, "I was just grabbing some books for us to look at."

"Great."

They lapsed into silence as they began to go through the 5 books Lizzie had grabbed for them to look at, marking pages that would be helpful.

"How do you want to do this?" Lizzie asked after she'd finished 3 of the 5 books and Neville was nearly through his second.

"What do you mean?"

"Should we write an essay type thing or…"

"Oh," Neville flushed slightly, "right, essay type thing sounds good."

"Neville, are you okay?" Lizzie looked at him, concerned with his stumbling over his words.

He flushed again, "I'm fine."

"Really?" she frowned at him, "I know we've never really spoken before but I'm here if you ever want to talk."

Neville mumbled something that Lizzie couldn't quite catch.

"Pardon?"

"I'm not good with work and everything."

"Oh," Lizzie didn't quite know how to reply to that. "It takes some time to get used to everything here I think, I struggled for a while."

"I'm still struggling," Neville murmured, looking down at the book in front of him.

"What at?"

"Everything, the magic mostly."

"You're struggling at doing magic?"

Neville shrugged, "my family were convinced I was a squib for most of my life."

"Is there anything you're not struggling with?"

A shy smile grew on his face, "I like Herbology."

"That's something then." Lizzie smiled at him, "shall we get on with it then?"

They kept working for another hour, making notes on the books and page numbers or little sections that they wanted to reference. They talked every now and then, general discussions about what they thought of Hogwarts or something they had found that was interesting in one of the books. That particular topic of conversation was primarily started by Neville, who seemed to find everything fascinating. It didn't bother Lizzie that he did this. They were making good headway with the research and Lizzie was enjoying spending time with him.

She remembered that this was the boy whose remembrall Draco had flown up into the air, causing Harry Potter to get onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team if the rumours were to be believed. She also remembered that she never actually asked if him if he was okay after falling from his broom.

"Neville?" she began, he 'hmm'ed in response.

"Were you okay? After falling from your broom in your first flying lesson?"

He looked slightly shocked about the fact that she was asking. "I broke my wrist but Madame Pomfrey fixed it fairly quickly, and then I just had to stay in the Hospital Wing for a while for shock."

"Good, I'm glad everything was okay."

Neville was silent for a moment but then he spoke again, "how did you know about it?"

Lizzie glanced away, she had gathered that Draco and Neville didn't get on from the way Draco had spoken about it. "I'm friends with Draco Malfoy, he told me."

He seemed to slightly tense as she said that, "you're friends with Malfoy?"

"Yes."

"Why?" He didn't say it in a cruel way, more that he was amazed by what she had said.

"I don't really know how to answer that," Lizzie half laughed, "we get on well and became friends I guess?"

"But don't you find him-" he searched for the word, "-really annoying and horrible?"

"Sometimes he isn't the nicest, but we get on well enough. He's fairly good towards me so I don't tend to have many issues with him."

"He can be nice?"

"I've seen him be awful, but if it's been directed at me he always apologises. If it's directed at someone else then I tell him what I think of it, which doesn't tend to be a positive thing."

"But you're a Hufflepuff?" he said, sounding astounded.

"Really? I had no idea. I wondered what the Sorting Hat shouted when I had it on my head." She rolled her eyes.

But you're nice? And not a Slytherin?"

"Thank you for the compliment and the obvious statement about my house."

Neville shook his head, "I just always thought he only spoke to other mean Slytherins."

"They're not all that bad."

In response he simply raised his eyebrows at her.

"Okay, I haven't met that many, but Blaise Zabini is nice."

"I haven't met many of them either, I don't tend to talk to them."

"I probably wouldn't if it wasn't for being friends with Draco, and even then I've only spoken to Blaise and Pansy."

He pulled a face, "I'm not a fan of Pansy."

Lizzie grinned at him. "I'm not either, she's terrible."

"Really? I mean, she seems like she might be but I wouldn't overly know."

"Oh, definitely! Incredibly judgmental and obsessed with Draco."

"That I gathered."

They both laughed and lapsed into a comfortable silence.

"I should probably head back to my common room," Lizzie said.

"Where is it?"

"Down in the basement of the school."

"Really?" They were both packing up by this point.

"Yeah, I love it though."

"Fair enough, we've got a tower and stuff as part of your common room."

"You must get some great views."

"Yeah, I can see part of the grounds from my dormitory window."

They'd reached the library entrance by this point.

"Do you want to work on this tomorrow as well?" Neville asked.

"Sounds good, same time"?

"Sure, see you tomorrow."

"You too."

"Lizzie!" her brother's shout greeted her as she crawled into the common room.

"What?"

"Come here a minute."

Lizzie rolled her eyes and walked over to where Ernie was sat with Justin.

"Where are the others?" she asked, taking a seat across from the two boys.

"Hannah and Susan are in your dormitory working on something, I think a bit of homework," Ernie glanced at Justin, obviously looking for some more information.

"Potions," Justin said, barely looking up from the book in front of him.

"Hannah and Susan are in your dormitory working on potions homework, Zacharias is working on his half of the Herbology project."

"And what are you two doing?"

"Working on our own halves of our projects."

"Why aren't you with your partners?

"We split the workload."

She rolled her eyes again, "alright then, what did you want?"

"What's Neville like?"

"That's what you demanded I come over here to tell you?"

"Maybe," her brother grinned at her.

"You're an idiot. He's really nice, very enthusiastic about Herbology."

"What's he like to work with?"

"It's good actually, we've figured out how we're doing it all and we're going to work on it more tomorrow."

"Nerd."

"Good to know, but you're the one who panics if your homework isn't done on the first night we get it."

Justin laughed, "I'm sorry, but she's right."

Ernie frowned at them both, "whatever."

Lizzie laughed, "can I go now?"

"Sure, see you in the morning."

"Bye guys."

Justin mumbled a goodbye whilst still continuing to stare at the book in front of him.

Lizzie waved to Cedric and his friends as she crossed the common room and made her way up to her dormitory. As she opened the door she nearly collided with Hannah, who gave a small squeak of surprise.

"Oh, hi Lizzie, is Justin in the common room?"

"With his nose stuck in a book."

"Great, see you in a bit." They swapped sides of the doorway and Lizzie closed the door after her.

"Hey Susan," Lizzie called over to her, throwing her own stuff on her bed and flopping down after it.

"One minute," she replied, continuing to write something on a piece of parchment.

Lizzie stared at the canopy above her bed and waited for the scratching of Susan's quill to stop, which it did after what sounded like a few more lines of writing. The sound of paper being shuffled and a book closing echoed around the room before Lizzie heard footsteps and Susan jumped onto her bed.

"Hi," Lizzie laughed, sitting up. "How did your bit of work go?"

"I've got an idea of what we can do with the structure and stuff so pretty well in all."

"When are you meeting Lavender?"

"Saturday, we figured we'll spend the entire day on it and hopefully get it all done."

"Sounds good."

"Is Cedric tutoring you on Saturday?"

"I told him I'd let him know at breakfast."

"Any chance I could borrow him? I get the feeling Lavender isn't going to be overly useful."

Lizzie laughed, whilst Susan tended to be fairly shy and quiet around other people she could be very opinionated and blunt when there weren't many people around.

"What?" Susan sounded surprised at Lizzie's reaction, "Have you ever considered her to be a good student?"

"Not really…" Lizzie trailed off, "but she might surprise you."

Susan shrugged, "alright then."

The two fell into a comfortable silence and Lizzie leaned back against the wall her bed was by. Susan sighed and got up, "I'm going to start getting ready for bed."

"Susan, it's barely 7 o'clock."

"At least if I'm ready for bed I can do a bit of potions homework up here until I get too tired to do anymore and then I can just go straight to bed."

"I thought that's what you and Hannah were doing? The potions homework I mean."

"We were," Susan said as she grabbed her pyjamas from her bed, "but then we didn't want to anymore."

Lizzie laughed at Susan closed the bathroom door behind her and began to unpack her bag. She made sure her Herbology books and notes were left out for her to use tomorrow and grabbed her potions books to try and get a bit more work done on the homework they'd been set before bed.

When Susan came in and saw the work Lizzie was attempting to get done she groaned.

"Why did you have to start doing more work? Now I have to start doing more work."

"I thought you were going to anyway?"

"I hadn't fully decided." She pulled a face. "Now I have to."

"You don't have to."

"No, but I feel like I should now."

Lizzie smirked to herself, "then get on with it."

Susan grumbled to herself as she found all her potions work and spread it across her bed, but quieted down relatively quickly and got on with the homework.

They worked in silence for a while, asking each other the odd question about the work or where to find some piece of information, until Hannah came in.

"I am so done with Herbology."

Both girls looked up from their work.

"What happened?" Susan asked.

"Nothing, I'm just fed up of it." Hannah flopped on her bed, "what are you guys doing?"

"Potions," they both replied.

Hannah groaned, "but if you're doing work then I have to as well."

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "I just went through this with Susan, no you don't."

Hannah paused, seemingly contemplating this fact. "True, I don't, I did more Herbology work than you both." She smiled. "I'm going to get ready for bed," and she flounced off to the bathroom, apparently quite proud that she didn't have to do any more work.

Susan gave a small laugh, "how much do you reckon you've got left of the potions homework?"

"Maybe a paragraph or two? I've actually managed to get quite a bit done."

"How many paragraphs have you done so far?"

"Only two, it's not exactly a huge piece of homework, it's just about the different parts of aconite."

"Are you including about its use in Wolfsbane potion?"

"Crap, probably should," Lizzie scrunched up her face, "I've covered where it can be found and stuff, and the flowers. I was just going to do the leaves, the roots, and then leave it at that."

"Did you not talk about the Wolfsbane potion within the flowers?"

Lizzie looked back over her essay, "I did but I feel like I should maybe speak about it on its own?"

Susan shrugged, "I don't know whether I'd bother if I were you."

"I like that idea."

They fell back into silence as they continued to work on the homework. Hannah came back into the room at one point but let them carry on focusing on the work rather than talking to them, instead she sat on her bed and started writing a letter to her parents.

About an hour and a half after they'd started the homework, Lizzie finally got to put down her quill and stretch back on her bed.

"You done?" Hannah asked, sitting up straighter at the prospect of being able to talk to someone.

"Yep," Lizzie nodded, beginning to put her books and parchment away so she could actually sleep in her bed that night.

"I'm not," Susan said. Her eyes were still focused on the book in front of her and Lizzie could see that she was biting the end of her quill.

Lizzie and Hannah made eye contact, silently agreeing to not speak quite yet. Lizzie continued to clear up her mess from homework doing in silence, trying and failing to remember offhand what lessons they had tomorrow so she could know what to pack in her bag. Giving up on that for now, she grabbed her pyjamas and took her turn in the bathroom, showering and cleaning her teeth before changing into her pyjamas for bed.

When she came back out 20 minutes later Susan and Hannah were chatting whilst Susan cleared everything off of her bed.

"You're done then?" Lizzie asked, chucking her robes into her trunk and sitting back on her bed.

"Yep, only took me two or so hours."

"Is it difficult to get done?" Hannah asked them both.

"Not really," Susan shrugged, "most of the time is spent finding the information to write down."

"Make sure I get it done tomorrow about dinner?"

Both girls nodded. "Sure thing," Lizzie said, "although Susan might have to get you to start it, I'm meeting Neville in the library to work on Herbology."

"I can do that," Susan nodded.

"Great," Hannah smiled, "how likely do you think we are to get set homework by Quirrell tomorrow?"

"I'm probably going to be doing it tomorrow evening whilst you get on with Potions," Susan grimaced.

Lizzie rolled her eyes, knowing full well she'd probably be working on Defence Against the Dark Arts in the library on Saturday, but the work wasn't normally too bad.

"Is Cedric tutoring you on Saturday?" Hannah asked.

"I said I'd let him know at breakfast."

"You're getting on better with the work now, aren't you?"

"Oh definitely," Lizzie smiled, "he still goes over my work to check I'm writing something that's actually right and answers any questions I have though."

"Reckon he could do that for us?" Susan grinned.

Lizzie grinned back, "I'll ask if you want."

"I doubt he'd refuse _you_ anything," Hannah said, smirking at Lizzie, "are you sure you're just friends?"

Lizzie threw a pillow at her as she and Susan fell about laughing.

"Shut up, yes we are just friends!"

"Whatever you say," Hannah grinned, chucking the pillow back at Lizzie.

"So what's going on with you and Mark?" Lizzie smirked.

Hannah flushed, "well we're not just friends but we're not something either."

Susan shrieked in delight and Lizzie grinned.

"Shut up, it's not a big deal." Hannah buried her face in her pillows, attempting to hide from girls' grins.

"Whatever you say," Lizzie said, continuing to grin at her friend.

"I'm going to sleep now, leave me alone," Hannah's voice was muffled from the pillows she was hiding in.

"Alright, alright, night," Lizzie said, climbing into bed herself and settling down. Susan and Hannah said their goodnights and the dormitory fell silent as the three girls went to sleep.


	27. Chapter 27

"Neville, do we really need any more information? We've written 4 feet of parchment already."

They were in the library on Friday night finishing off the Herbology project they'd started researching the night before. However it was getting on for half past seven and Lizzie was aware of the fact that their curfew was drawing near.

"I mean, maybe, we could add more in."

"Neville," Lizzie groaned, her face in her hands.

"Okay, okay, we can say we've finished everything."

"Thank you," she mumbled.

Neville was picking all the books up from around them, but he paused for a moment.

"Lizzie?"

"Yeah?"

"I've enjoyed working with you, thank you."

Lizzie looked at him, "I've liked working with you too." She smiled at him and he flushed slightly.

"Could we work on homework together, maybe?"

"Sounds good to me." Lizzie stood to help him put the books away, and a few minutes later they were saying their goodbyes at the library entrance.

"I tend to come here to get homework done on a Saturday afternoon," Lizzie offered.

Neville grinned, "thank you."

Lizzie smiled again and waved goodbye as she walked back down to the Hufflepuff common room.

On her short journey down to the basement corridor, Lizzie thought about how collected and calm Neville was when it came to Herbology. She'd either seen or heard enough about him to know he panicked and struggled a lot in pretty much every other class. Smiling to herself, Lizzie was happy that she'd gotten to work with him.

"Elizabeth, haven't seen you in a while." Draco's voice rang out across the entrance hall and Lizzie turned to face him.

"It's been five days," she remarked dryly, although a smile was playing on her face, "and I've seen you in class and stuff."

"But not properly getting to speak to each other," Draco said, walking over to her and pulling her into a hug. Lizzie flushed at the fact that he was hugging her in front of his friends. Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise, and another boy Lizzie didn't really know were all at the top of the steps down to the dungeon.

"We'll properly speak in two days, you're being overdramatic."

"Draco is a drama queen," Blaise said, pulling Lizzie into a one armed hug.

Draco scowled at him. "I am not a drama queen," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You are though, a tiny bit," Lizzie grinned at him.

He continued to scowl.

"I'll see you Sunday, Draco," Lizzie smiled and went to walk away but he called after her.

"No, wait."

Lizzie laughed, turning back around, "yes?"

"Do you have to go?" Draco's eyebrows furrowed slightly and a slightly upset look crossed his face, although it was so quick that Lizzie wasn't completely sure it had happened.

"It's nearly curfew, Ernie will start freaking out if I'm not back soon."

"You can handle him being a bit overprotective, must you go?"

"Yes, and I'm sorry, but I will see you in two days."

Draco pouted at her but pulled her in for another hug. "Okay then, see you soon."

"Yep, bye guys," she waved to the others, and walked down the stairs to the basement and her common room.

Lizzie managed to make Ernie jump when she arrived back in the common room as, for once, his back was to the entrance. It wasn't even that she snuck over to the group, just nobody looked at her for too long so he didn't notice and when she said hello he jumped about a foot in the air.

After the group finally stopped laughing at him and he'd stopped glaring at Lizzie, Ernie asked her how the rest of her and Neville's project went, which then made everyone start talking about their own projects. All Lizzie gathered from that conversation was that she and Neville had finished, and everyone else was planning on spending a lot of time in the library the next day.

"Will you come up or not bother?" Justin asked Lizzie as the conversation began to dwindle somewhat.

"I don't know if there's much point, you'll be taking up half the tables."

"You could always come and help one of us," Justin grinned at her and she rolled her eyes.

"I could, but I won't."

"Why not?" Hannah pouted at her.

"Because instead I could spend the day relaxing, and that feels preferable."

Zacharias laughed, "I don't blame you, do that."

"I shall, thank you."

Zacharias grinned, "and I get to work with your brother, lucky me."

Justin and Lizzie laughed, knowing full well that Ernie was probably going to get very grumpy about something to do with the project because Zacharias wasn't doing exactly what he wanted.

"It'll be fine, just ask him lots of questions and he'll think you're trying to make the project as brilliant as he wants it," Justin offered.

Lizzie nodded, "that's probably the only way to not piss him off too much."

Zacharias grimaced, which caused Lizzie and Justin to laugh again.

"What's so funny?" Susan, Hannah, and Ernie had turned around.

"Nothing, Zacharias was just commenting on how much he's looking forward to working on the Herbology project tomorrow," Justin said, his voice unnaturally high as he tried not to laugh.

Zacharias nodded, gritting his teeth so he didn't laugh.

"Oh, well, I'm looking forward to it too," Ernie smiled at his partner.

"Mmhmm," Zacharias forced out. Lizzie thought to some extent he actually looked like he was in pain from having to hold in laughter.

Justin looked equally uncomfortable and muttered something about "bed" before running off in the direction of his dormitory, closely followed by Zacharias.

"Are they okay?" Susan asked, concern evident in her voice.

Lizzie took a deep, calming breath, "yeah, they're fine."

Hannah shot her a quizzical look but Lizzie shook her head ever so slightly and Hannah nodded, turning back to Ernie to continue whatever they had been speaking about.

Lizzie half tuned into their conversation but let the words wash over her, preferring to keep quiet and relax for a while. She vaguely heard Susan join in the conversation but she was too tired to do much more than be vaguely aware of things.

"Lizzie? Lizzie!"

Lizzie shook herself back into a semi-conscious state, "what?"

Cedric was sat beside her on the sofa, "you've looked pretty zoned out for the past 10 minutes."

"Mostly because I have been."

Cedric laughed at her, "you okay?"

"Tired, ready to sleep but lacking the energy to go to bed."

"Too much effort to walk?"

"Pretty much," she grinned.

Cedric grinned right back at her, "are you wanting to go to the library tomorrow?"

"No, I think I'm up to date with all my work."

"Anything you want me to go over?"

Lizzie pulled a face, "ask me in the morning when I'm a bit more awake."

"See you at breakfast then?"

"See you then."

They shared a smile and Cedric pulled himself up before walking back over to his friends, which included Mark.

"I'll be back in a minute," Hannah said, looking from Mark to her friends. She walked over to him and he shuffled over on the chair he was on, making room for her.

Lizzie exchanged a smile with Susan, although Hannah and Mark weren't officially anything, it was definitely going to end up as something.

"How long before they get together?" Ernie wondered aloud.

"By Christmas," Susan said, sounding incredibly sure of herself.

"That long?" Ernie asked, "Justin reckons it'll be by the end of the month."

"What do you think?" Lizzie said to her brother.

"Sometime after Christmas, I think the likelihood is that at least one of them will go home for Christmas and they'll realise they miss each other too much to stay as just friends."

"Couldn't they owl one another though?"

"Maybe… but still, that's what I think will happen."

"Lizzie, what do you think?" Susan asked.

"Honestly? I have no idea. I feel like they probably want to get to know each other more and Mark won't let Hannah get side tracked during first year."

"We should do a sweepstake or something," Ernie murmured, seemingly more to himself than the two girls but they heard anyway.

"We should what?" Lizzie said, at the same time as Susan gave a gasp and said "that's an amazing idea!"

"We should what?" Lizzie repeated, still completely thrown.

"We each put a galleon or something in and whoever guesses the right time frame gets it all."

"We're going to bet on her love life?"

Susan and Ernie glanced at each other, "yes!"

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "fine, talk to Zacharias and Justin about it."

A huge grin spread across Ernie's face at this and Lizzie rolled her eyes again.

"Doesn't mean I think it's an amazing idea," Lizzie said.

"But we can do it?" Susan pleaded, and Lizzie nodded.

Both Ernie and Susan celebrated for a few seconds, before calming back down and opting for grins. This just made Lizzie roll her eyes a final time, "and with you two idiots doing that, I'm going to bed."

Ernie stuck his tongue out at her, "night."

"Night, I'll be up in a little bit," Susan said, smiling at her.

"Okay." Lizzie waved to Hannah, Cedric, and Mark on her way across the common room. She was rather looking forward to her day off tomorrow, but part of her knew she'd probably end up quite bored. Whilst she could read a book or something all day, she had no idea how long everyone would take and so she probably would end up wandering aimlessly around the school or something. Lizzie wondered what Draco was doing the next day and if she could spend some time with him and Blaise.

'Ah well,' Lizzie thought, she would figure it all out tomorrow.


	28. Chapter 28

"Get up! Get up! Get up!" Hannah shouted, running between Lizzie and Susan's beds to shake them awake.

"My turn," Susan groaned, whacking Hannah with a pillow when she ran back over to Susan's bed.

Lizzie half laughed; she wasn't awake enough to do anything properly.

"We've got 20 minutes before we're going up for breakfast," Hannah explained, shaking Lizzie some more.

"But why?"

"Monday means lessons."

Lizzie grimaced. The weekend was over which meant functioning enough to learn had to happen. 'Although,' she thought to herself, 'breakfast meant food.' She heaved herself out of bed, silently thanking herself for opting for a shower the night before. Now all she had to do was clean her teeth, wash her face, tame her hair, and get dressed.

Hannah was already dressed, of course.

"When did you get up?" Lizzie asked, rummaging in her trunk to find her tie.

"20 minutes ago, all your wash stuff is on the back of the toilet."

Lizzie paused in her rummaging. "I'm looking for my tie."

Hannah rolled her eyes, "you two could sleep through a tornado, Lizzie your uniform is fully laid out on the left of my bed, Susan's is on the right."

"You're amazing," Lizzie said, grabbing her clothes for the day and running off to take her turn in the bathroom.

Her wash bag was on the back of the toilet as Hannah had said, and after splashing some water on her face Lizzie began to clean her teeth and change into her robes. Grimacing at her hair, Lizzie sprayed a potion she'd been given by one of Cedric's friends on her hair brush and tugged it through her curls. She'd been using it for a few weeks now and had to admit it worked amazingly. Her curls still looked pretty manic but that was something Lizzie had gotten used to now and the potion just made them easier to tug a brush through.

"Lizzie! We have 12 minutes!" Hannah's voice came through the door.

Lizzie rolled her eyes and pushed the door open, "just coming." She hadn't completely finished dressing but she was decently covered and only had to put her tie and robes on.

Susan passed Lizzie on her way out of the bathroom, still looking half asleep but she'd managed to get dressed in her sleepy state.

"You ready?" Hannah asked.

"Not quite." Lizzie was doing up her tie at this point and couldn't quite get it to the right length.

"Have you packed your bag?"

"I did it last night."

Hannah smiled, "good."

"How are you so awake?"

"I'm just excited for the day."

Lizzie stared at her in disbelief. "No, something must have happened."

Hannah flushed and Lizzie squealed. "Something has happened! What?"

Susan stuck her head out of the bathroom, "what?"

"I'm seeing Mark later, I'm looking forward to it."

"Oh," Lizzie said, "that's less exciting than I thought."

"Shut up! Susan, you nearly ready?"

"Let me just grab my bag," Susan replied, coming out of the bathroom.

Hannah nodded and grabbed her own. Once all of them were ready for the day they filed out of their dormitory and made their way to the common room. By some miracle the boys were already there and they were able to head off to breakfast straight away (5 minutes ahead of schedule, as pointed out by Hannah).

They arrived at Herbology fairly early, early enough to make Lizzie think she could have had an extra 10 minutes in bed, and chatted amongst themselves whilst they waited for Professor Sprout and the Gryffindor's to arrive.

Ernie pulled Lizzie to the side as the other Hufflepuffs chatted about who knows what.

"Zacharias and Justin are up for it."

"For what?"

Ernie glanced back at their friends. "The sweepstake," he whispered.

Lizzie choked on a barely concealed laugh. "You're actually going ahead with that?"

Her brother pouted, "you said we could."

She rolled her eyes at him, "I know but I didn't think you'd actually keep going with it."

"Well I did." He stuck his tongue out at her. "Now we just need to get everyone together to put their dates in."

"Hannah's spending time with Mark tonight, we can talk then."

"Excellent!" Ernie explained, slightly too loudly, and the Hufflepuffs looked over at them. He smiled sheepishly as Lizzie rolled her eyes once more and walked back over to the group.

It wasn't too long before the Gryffindors arrived and Neville waved over at Lizzie, who smiled and waved back at him. Hannah nudged her in the side and wiggled her eyebrows at her, but Lizzie simply rolled her eyes. She and Neville were friends and Hannah needed to stop trying to set her up with people. She was only 11 after all.

"Okay, first years, Greenhouse 1," Professor Sprout called out to them and they all entered the greenhouse and stood around the benches, waiting to be told what the lesson would involve.

"Can I have your projects in please? And then we'll discuss the lesson."

Half the group fumbled in their bags and walked up to the front bench where Professor Sprout was waiting to be handed their work.

Neville had his and Lizzie's project so all she had to do was wait. It wouldn't' have surprised her if he had added more information to it and by the extra few pages she could see him fumbling with he actually had. Rolling her eyes at his dedication to the subject, she couldn't be mad, not if it got them a higher mark.

Professor Sprout counted the pieces of work she'd receive and nodded to herself. "Thank you everyone, now today's lesson will be on Asphodel. If you turn to page 53 of _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ you'll be able to read about the fact that it's quite useful within potion making, but today we're not focusing on that so you can shut your books," she said, looking at the few students who had been turning to page 53 (namely Ernie and Hermione). "Instead today you will all be helping me to gather some more Asphodel for Professor Snape to help restock the potions cupboard."

"How are we meant to find it?" One of the Gryffindors Lizzie didn't know asked.

"It's quite common in the Hogwarts grounds, and it looks like," Professor Sprout fumbled with some papers on her work bench before holding up some pieces of parchment with drawings on them, "this. Dean, could you hand these out please?"

The Gryffindor who had spoken pulled a face but walked to the front bench and took the sheets before walking around the greenhouse and handing them out. Lizzie smiled at him as he passed her her copy of the drawing in thanks and he grinned back at her. Once he was done Professor Sprout effectively dismissed them, although they had to leave their bags in the greenhouse so she could guarantee that they wouldn't run off.

The Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors split into their two different house groups before splitting into smaller groups, or at least the Gryffindors did. The Hufflepuffs opted for staying together.

After a whole lot of walking and finding nothing, they managed to find a huge patch of the stuff and gather enough to, in Justin's words, "restock the potions cupboard and drown Snape in". Once they'd filled the baskets Professor Sprout had given them and wandered back to the greenhouse to hand the plants in and collect their bags.

"Thank you, I'll come buy the common room to check up on you all by the end of the week," Professor Sprout said to them with a smile.

"Okay, you're welcome Professor, we'll see you soon," Ernie answered for them all.

They had a short break before History of Magic so they took their time in getting to the classroom, but were still there early enough that they got to complain about the fact that they had this particular subject.

"I mean, I doubt he'd even notice if nobody was there," Zacharias was saying. This particular sentence tended to be said by at least one of the class each lesson. "And it's not like anyone really pays him any attention."

"Ernie does," Lizzie grinned at her twin brother.

"Okay, aside from Ernie and one or two other swots," Zacharias shared the grin, "does anyone?"

None of the Hufflepuffs, except Ernie, could deny this fact.

"You'll be thankful come exam time when you'll all come to be begging for my notes and help."

"And at that point we'll all say sorry and how wrong we were," Hannah finished for him, "we know, you tell at least twice a week."

Ernie scowled at her, "well as long as you know."

"We do," Justin and Susan said at the same time, before turning to each other and laughing over that particular fact.

Lizzie rolled her eyes and leaned against the wall, waiting for the class before them to let out so that they could go in.

"On the subject," Ernie murmured, coming over to lean beside her, "I'm okay with you borrowing my notes."

"You better be, Justin's been nicking them from your bag after each lesson for us to copy."

"Okay cool, wait, what?!"

Lizzie smirked, "after each History of Magic lesson Justin grabs your notes from your bag and we copy them out, then he puts them back."

"You what?"

"Ernie I have now told you twice, please pay attention."

"Justin?!"

"What?" Justin replied, having finally stopped laughing with Susan.

"Come here."

"Say please."

Ernie glared at him and Justin wilted, coming over to him and Lizzie.

"What?"

"You steal my notes out of my bag?"

Justin looked at him for a second before turning to Lizzie, clearly flabbergasted, "you told him?!"

She shrugged, "he said it was alright."

"I said you could borrow them come exam time," Ernie said, glaring at her.

She shrugged again, "same thing."

"It is not the same thing."

At that point the sound of voices began to filter down the corridor towards them; the rest of the class was obviously on its way to wait with them.

Ernie glared at the pair of them, "we'll deal with this later."

After a shared smirk they gave him a mock salute and nearly doubled up with laughter at his frustrated reaction. He stormed back over to the Hufflepuffs and Justin turned to Lizzie, "we're still stealing and copying them, right?"

"Of course."

"Good."

The crowd outside the classroom slowly grew bigger and louder before the class before them finally let out. Lizzie always found it interesting to watch people's reactions to gaining freedom from Professor Binns' classroom. Some looked like they were still asleep, others looked like they'd been told the best news in the world, Lizzie tended to be completely zoned out and someone had to pinch her a few times to get her back to reality.

Hannah nudged Lizzie, and the group of Hufflepuffs entered the classroom, taking their seats at a cluster of desks in pairs: Hannah and Susan; Lizzie and Justin; Ernie and Zacharias. Ernie and Zacharias weren't exactly the bestest of friends, but with Ernie's need to listen and take notes and Zacharias' occasional nap, the pairing worked quite well. The other two pairs tended to pass notes for the duration of the lesson.

Justin nudged Lizzie as the rest of the class traipsed in, nodding to the seat on the other side of her where Draco Malfoy had just sat down. She rolled her eyes at it all as his 'bodyguards' slumped into chairs on his other side. Draco smiled at her and she smiled back, settling into her seat as Professor Binns glided through the blackboard and began the class.

Almost immediately Justin had passed her a note.

 _You and Draco a thing yet?_

Lizzie scowled at him, scribbling her reply.

 _No, still just friends which I plan on continuing for the duration of our friendship. And don't you dare bet on it._

 _Me? Bet on somebody's relationship? I would never do that!_

 _Don't let Ernie do it either._

 _Ernie would do it, but I can't make any promises._

 _You haven't, have you?_

 _No, the Hufflepuff relationship betting pool is strictly Hannah and Mark right now._

 _Good, I will be extremely tempted to end anyone who bets on me and Draco._

 _I feel like you're being rather defensive about all of this._

Lizzie scowled at him once more.

 _Just fed up of hearing the same old thing when I've explained quite clearly that we're just friends._

 _Sure, sure._

 _I hate you sometimes._

 _Good to know._

The note passing paused for a few minutes as they tried to contain their laughter. Both kept it in alright but their shoulders wouldn't stop shaking and when Ernie kicked both of their chairs to stop them, they very nearly let it out.

Lizzie felt a poke on her leg and glanced down. Draco was holding out a rolled up piece of parchment which she took and unrolled, ignoring the looks Justin was giving her.

 _What's so funny?_

Lizzie rolled her eyes at his curiosity and quickly wrote a response.

 _Justin and my brother._

She saw Draco smirk at his reply and crumple the piece of parchment up.

Justin slid their piece of note parchment across the desk and elbowed her side. Lizzie glared at him before looking down at what he had written.

 _Anything interesting?_

 _What?_

 _From Draco._

 _He was just asking what was so funny._

 _How nosey of him._

 _You're one to talk, you asked what he wrote to me._

 _Touche Miss Macmillan, touche._

Lizzie grinned at him and rest her head on her arms, letting the drone of Professor Binn's voice lull her into a state of sleepiness for the rest of the lesson.

"I still say you fell asleep," Ernie was continuing to insist 10 minutes into lunch.

"I didn't fall asleep," Lizzie retorted, looking to Justin for back up.

Justin laughed, "don't ask me, I was asleep."

"Pick on him instead!" Lizzie pointed at Justin, "he actually did fall asleep."

"I'm your brother, it's my job to pick on you."

"You're horrible."

"Thank you, I aim to please."

Lizzie rolled her eyes and continued to eat her lunch. Hopefully that would be it for Ernie's need to be proved right about her supposedly falling asleep. She didn't think she had, but then again she could be wrong. It didn't matter, so long as he didn't know he might be right.

"You guys are hilarious to watch," Susan mused, smiling at Lizzie and Ernie.

Lizzie pulled a face but Ernie grinned, taking the comment as a compliment.

The rest of the Hufflepuff first years laughed.

"Shut up and eat your food," Lizzie huffed at them all. They laughed again but did quieten down and continue to finish up their lunch before they had to go to their next lesson.

The Hufflepuffs had Transfiguration after lunch, a subject in which Lizzie was faring fairly well (and sometimes picking things up quicker than her brother much to his annoyance). Since they'd finally begun to actually work on transforming things into other things the class had become a lot more enjoyable, although it also meant more homework if you couldn't get the spell within the class time.

The lesson passed quickly, as time does when you're focused on something else, and most of the Hufflepuffs had to continue to practise the transforming of a pencil into a quill. Ernie and Susan had managed to master the spell, which was good for them Lizzie knew, but annoying for the rest of them. She didn't often get a night off from Transfiguration homework but it was always appreciated when it did happen. That night would not be one of them.

Charms passed equally quickly, luckily creating a Charms free evening for all bar Justin, and they were finally able to go back to their common room and dump their bags.

"I know it's been a relatively good day, but I still hate Mondays," Lizzie grumbled.

"I think they're a great day," Hannah said, grabbing some clothes so she could change out of her robes.

"You're just excited to go and see Mark."

"True," Hannah grinned, rushing into the bathroom to change.

Susan rolled her eyes, "is she eating dinner with us or with him?"

"I know as much as you do," Lizzie replied, flopping onto her bed to avoid any more effort that comes from standing up.

"Okay then," Susan repeated her question, yelling it to Hannah in the bathroom.

"With him," Hannah replied, walking out of the bathroom to reply and straighten her clothes out. "Do I look okay?"

"Yeah, definitely," Lizzie replied.

"Without a doubt," Susan echoed.

"When are you guys going up to dinner?"

Lizzie and Susan looked at each other.

"We should probably move," Susan said reluctantly.

"The boys just said they'd meet us in the common room." Lizzie grimaced at the idea of moving.

"We should probably move," Susan repeated.

"I don't wanna."

"I don't want to either but still."

The girls grimaced at each other before standing and following Hannah back down to the common room.

The boys were already waiting for them in the common room.

"What took you so long?" Zacharias demanded, quieting down after Susan and Lizzie shot him a glare.

"They didn't want to move," Hannah explained, looking around for Mark. "I guess he's not here yet."

"Are you meeting him here or at the table?" Lizzie asked, slouching down on the sofa by her brother.

"I thought here."

"He might just be late out of his last lesson or something," Susan suggested.

"Hmm," Hannah looked around again, a worried look crossing her face.

"Well we can wait with you for a little while," Susan said, smiling at Hannah.

"Thanks guys."

A commotion came from over by the tunnel entrance as a group of older students came in. Mark was not one of them.

"Did you decide on a time to meet?" Justin queried.

"No, but I'm thinking we will next time."

"Good idea," Zacharias said, "and then we won't have to wait around for…" He trailed off as each of the Hufflepuff first years sent him a glare.

Another commotion came from over by the common room's entrance and Cedric, Mark, Jack, and Dexter all entered, clambering around each other and somehow managing to not step on one another.

Mark looked around the common room, spotted Hannah, and made a beeline to her.

"I'm so, so sorry, Quirrell wouldn't stop blabbering about trolls, I will be back in two minutes," and he rushed off again.

Cedric, Jack, and Dexter all came over at a much more leisurely pace, smirking after their friend.

"Feel special Hannah, he was panicking about making you wait the entire way back," Dexter grinned at her.

"Shut up," she mumbled, blushing at his words.

Lizzie and Susan exchanged a grin at this.

"Who was the closest to this date in our sweepstake?" Ernie whispered to Lizzie.

"No idea," Lizzie whispered back, "you said we would sort it tonight when Lizzie and Mark were at dinner."

"Sort what?" Jack had caught the end of their whispered conversation.

Ernie glanced over at Hannah, who was talking to Zacharias about something. Lizzie was amazed that they seemed to be having a pleasant conversation rather than arguing.

"We're doing a sweepstake on when Hannah and Mark become an official couple.

Jack nodded, processing this information. "Can I get in on that? Cedric and Dexter will probably want to as well."

Ernie looked at Lizzie, seemingly for advice but she just shrugged, "it's up to you, it was your idea in the first place."

"Yeah, sure, I don't see why not."

"Great, when are you deciding dates?"

"At dinner tonight."

"Okay, if you guys wait for us to dump our bags we'll come and sit with you."

"Sounds good."

Jack called over to Cedric and Dexter that he was dumping his bag and they said they would too, the three of them walking off to their dormitory as Mark came back into the common room to collect Hannah.

"I'll see you guys later," she said, standing to meet him and he waved at them all. They walked out of the common room and Justin immediately turned to Ernie.

"So, this sweepstake?"

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "give it a minute Justin, Jack said he wants to join in and Cedric and Dexter probably will as well."

"So, dinner?" Zacharias piped up.

"Give it a minute, Zacharias," Justin echoed Lizzie's words.

"Shut up," she shot at him, "besides, Jack said if we wait then they'll sit with us and we can sort it out then."

"Oh, okay."

"Should we have parchment to write down everyone's guesses?" Ernie wondered aloud.

Lizzie looked at her brother, "go get one?"

He glared at her, but got up nonetheless.

They fell into silence for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts of when they thought Mark and Hannah would become official, when Ernie returned with quill and parchment.

"I figured I'd need something to write with too."

"No shit, Sherlock," Lizzie said before she could stop herself.

The first years laughed as Ernie glared at her once more.

"Sorry," she said, grinning sheepishly and he rolled his eyes at her.

The fourth years were soon back and they were able, to Zacharias' joy, to go to the Great Hall for dinner. When they got there they made sure to sit far away from Hannah and Mark, who was talking rather animatedly about something, so they could discuss this sweepstake without fear of being overheard.

"Okay, what's happening with this sweepstake then?" Cedric asked once everyone had loaded their plates.

Ernie drew himself up, a look of pride coming onto his face. "Well it was my idea that we should all put a galleon or something in and whoever guesses the closest date or general time of Mark and Hannah becoming an official couple would then get all the money."

"Do we have to put them all in straight away? Because that's a lot of money to be kept around somewhere?" Susan asked.

"No, we could all just agree on an amount and then give it to whoever wins."

Susan nodded, "okay then."

"I have parchment and a quill," Ernie announced, moving his plate slightly to the side and placing it on the table.

"What amount should we all put in then?" Jack asked.

"I'd be happy with a galleon," Justin said, earning nods and people saying "me too".

"One galleon," Ernie muttered, writing it down on the parchment. "What should I name this all as?"

Lizzie shot him a look, "I don't know? Hannah and Mark's relationship sweepstake?"

Ernie muttered something about "it was just a question" but wrote down what she suggested.

The rest of them continued to eat as he did this, catching up about how their days were and how the first years were getting on. Ernie joined in with this conversation for a little while before coughing a few times to get their attention back.

"Who wants to place their bets then?"

"I reckon Christmas," Zacharias said.

"Christmas," Ernie repeated, writing it down, "anyone else?"

"January," Susan said, "I don't think they'll like being apart over Christmas and it'll make them realise they want to be together."

"I don't know," Dexter said, "Mark doesn't like rushing into things."

"Yeah, do you remember that time it took him an hour to decide whether to get fizzing whizbees or pumpkin fizz?" Jack said, "I reckon Easter."

"I was going to say Easter, May then," Dexter told Ernie.

"Lizzie? Justin? Cedric?" Ernie asked, "any ideas?"

"Still thinking," Lizzie said.

"Me too, don't rush me," Justin glared at him.

"Can we go into next year?" Cedric asked, looking around at them all.

"I don't see why not, I'm saying Valentine's day by the way," Ernie replied, writing down his choice.

"Valentine's day of next year," Cedric said, smiling at his choice.

"You think it'll take them that long?" Lizzie asked, looking at the boy sat next to her.

"Oh without a doubt," he said, "Mark doesn't want to rush anything with her but will want to make some big romantic gesture when it eventually happens."

"I like that idea, I think I'm going with something along that idea," Justin thought for a moment, "when are their birthdays?"

"Mark's is June 3rd," Dexter told them, "it always falls in the middle of exams. I don't know about Hannah's."

"Hannah's is December 12th," Susan offered, "I think, is it?"

"Yeah," Lizzie nodded, "because she always gets Christmas themed gifts."

Justin and Lizzie made eye contact for a few seconds.

"December next year!" Lizzie said, at the same time as Justin shrieked out "after exams have finished!"

They grinned at each other.

"Guess there's no problem with that then," Justin smiled.

"None," Lizzie grinned back.

Ernie rolled his eyes, "you're both idiots."

"Idiots who agree you're a bigger idiot," Justin quipped, looking to Lizzie for appreciation of his comeback, but she just shook her head at him.

"Why do you bother?"

"I don't know," Justin said, looking down at his plate.

"So is everyone happy with their choices?" Ernie asked, taking control of the conversation again.

They all nodded, some of them had to think about it before nodding their consent but they did all nod.

"Excellent," he smiled, proudly and rolled the piece of parchment back up and tucked it in his pocket. "Now how were everyone's days?"


	29. Chapter 29

"Lizzie?" Neville's quiet voice called after her along the charms corridor. It was Friday and she'd just finished her final lesson of the day.

"Hey Neville, everything okay?" she said, gesturing for the other first year Hufflepuffs to keep walking back to the common room.

"Could we have a study session in the library, like, soon?" He was fidgeting, his hands wouldn't stop moving. Lizzie could tell he was obviously incredibly nervous and upset about something.

She adjusted her bag strap to stop it from digging into her shoulder. "Of course, when do you want to? I can do tomorrow if you'd like or-"

"Is tonight okay?" he said, rushing his words, as though scared he wouldn't be able to.

"Um," the urgency had taken her by surprise, "of course, do you want to go straight there now or after dinner?"

"Straight there please."

"Neville, what's wrong?"

"I just had potions, and Professor Snape was just…" he trailed off.

"Oh, I'm sorry Neville, what do you want to go over?"

"Potions, please."

Lizzie surpressed an eye roll, knowing it wouldn't help him right now. "Okay, but which part?"

"All of it," he murmured.

"Okay, I don't know how helpful I'm going to be, but okay."

"You'll be brilliant, I know you will. Please help me."

"Neville, I will, don't worry," she gave him a smile in an attempt to cheer him up. It didn't really work.

"Thank you."

"It's fine, I just need to go and dump my bag in my dormitory first, but then I'll come straight to the library."

"Okay," his voice was so small that Lizzie nearly missed what he said.

"I'll see you there soon, yeah?"

"Thank you, Lizzie," and he walked away, stumbling somewhat down the corridor in the direction of the library.

Lizzie watched him walk away, feeling incredibly worried about him. She'd heard from Draco that Snape gave Neville a hard time. Well, Draco described it as a "hard time"; to Lizzie it sounded more like bullying.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Lizzie headed for the Hufflepuff common room so she could drop her bag off. She wasn't sure whether to bother finding her potions notes, maybe some of the earlier ones she made. Yes, that's what she would do.

By the time she got down to her common room, the other first years were all in a little group spread over two sofas: Justin, Susan, and Zacharias on one; Hannah and Ernie on the other.

"What did Neville want?" Zacharias asked the second she was within hearing distance.

"He asked me to help him with potions in the library."

"Why you? Hermione Granger's in his class?"

"No idea, but I said I would. I think Snape gave him a really hard time today," Lizzie said, settling herself down for a minute beside her brother.

"Snape is awful isn't he," Susan said, a frown crossing her face.

"Yep, anyway, I need to go and drop my books off."

"You're going up now?" Ernie asked, sounding completely shocked.

"He asked me to."

"And if he asked you to jump off of a cliff, would you?"

"Ernie, stop trying to parent me, I don't mind helping out a friend."

"You'll be back in time for dinner?"

She rolled her eyes at his attitude, "yes, I will be back in time for dinner, mother."

He scowled at her and she nudged him with her shoulder, "I'm teasing you, brother dearest, I'll see you later." She gave him a kiss on the cheek as she stood up and he smiled again.

"Have fun, you lot," she called over her shoulder as she headed off to her dormitory to grab her notes and dump her books.

"Sorry, Ernie decided to be a protective parent," Lizzie said, sitting herself down opposite Neville at the table he had picked out for them.

"It's okay, thank you for being willing to go through stuff with me."

"It's fine," Lizzie smiled across at him. "But I have to ask, why me? Hermione Granger's in your class."

"I didn't want to bother her and we worked so well together on the Herbology project."

Lizzie nodded in understanding, "okay, what do you want to go over first?"

For the next 20 minutes Lizzie answered all the questions Neville threw at her, gradually beginning to help him understand some of the basics of potions. It acted as a good refresh for her as well though, which was rather lucky (it turned out she had forgotten some things and had to look through her notes a few times).

"You're brilliant, you know that?" Neville said, gaping at Lizzie over the books and sheets of parchment spread across the table.

A slightly flush coloured her cheeks in embarrassment. "Oh, well, I don't know about that."

"Except you are. Thank you for helping me."

"It's fine, I honestly don't mind."

"Neville, are you feeling better?" a new voice came around the corner. Both Neville and Lizzie looked around to greet whoever it was.

"Oh, thank you, Hermione, I am."

So this was Hermione Granger. Lizzie recognised her of course from lessons and such forth, but she'd never properly been introduced to her.

"Hello, I'm Hermione Granger," she said, holding out her hand to Lizzie.

Lizzie shook it, "Lizzie Macmillan."

"Thank you for helping Neville, Snape has a tendency to bully him somewhat."

Lizzie frowned, "I'd heard, how does he manage to get away with it?"

"No idea, but somehow he does."

Hermione sat down at their table. "You don't mind do you? I have some work I need to do."

Lizzie looked to Neville for his judgement on the subject, and he shook himself back to reality. "What? Oh, no of course not."

"Thank you," and she opened a book to begin working.

Lizzie looked over at Neville, "is there anything more you wanted to go over?"

"I don't think so, not right now anyway."

"Okay," she began to gather her notes together, "I'm going to head back to my common room then, but I'll see you later?"

Neville nodded, "see you later."

"And it was nice to meet you, Hermione."

She looked up from her book, "likewise."

Lizzie wandered back to the common room, thinking over Neville and Snape's treatment of him. It wasn't fair, that much was obvious, but could anything really be done about it? Even if someone complained all Snape had to do was deny it; he was a teacher so he would be believed. Plus the Slytherin's wouldn't back the story up, and whilst Gryffindors were supposed to be brave it didn't seem like any of them were doing anything about this fact.

Someone grabbing her hand pulled her back to reality.

"Hey, I've been calling after you for ages, you off in your own little world?" It was Cedric, and he looked slightly worried about the fact that she hadn't heard him.

"Sorry, was just thinking."

He frowned at her, "everything okay?"

"Worried about a friend."

His frown grew slightly, "do you want to talk about it? I was just heading back to the common room anyway, it won't be a problem."

Lizzie considered; Cedric would probably have a better idea of what to do about it all. She found herself nodding before she'd properly finished deciding about what to do and he grinned at her.

"Want to go back to the common room or walk around?"

"Common room, please, Ernie will worry if he thinks I'm not going to be back in time to go to dinner with everyone."

Cedric rolled his eyes, "your brother's definitely a special one."

She smiled, "that he is."

After signalling to Ernie that she was back but going to speak to Cedric, she followed him into a corner of the common room and they sat down on a sofa, facing one another.

"Okay, so which friend are you worried about and why?" he asked, becoming somewhat business like in his tone.

"Neville Longbottom? He's a Gryffindor in my year. We were put together for a Herbology project."

Cedric shook his head, "I don't know him."

"Didn't think you would," she smiled, "basically as far as I can tell he's being bullied by Professor Snape."

"What?" Cedric seemed shocked, "Snape's awful but bullying?"

"Draco laughs about it quite a bit," she pulled a face at this, "and then today Neville asked me for help understanding the basics of potions."

"You?" he scoffed and she scowled at him.

"Yes me, anyway, I thought he was going to cry, he seemed so upset about the lesson he'd just had."

"Okay…" Cedric didn't seem convinced.

"I didn't want to assume too much, but then Hermione Granger," at the look of confusion on Cedric's face Lizzie had to explain "Gryffindor, my year, joined us and thanked me for helping him because Snape bullies him."

Cedric frowned again, "I wouldn't put it past Snape to bully a student, I know he's not the nicest of teachers."

"What should I do? I can't understand why the Gryffindors haven't done anything."

"Who's he close to in Gryffindor?"

"Oh, I don't actually know that," she thought for a few seconds, "he's never really mentioned anyone."

"That might be why then."

"Why what?"

"Why the Gryffindors haven't done anything. If he's not close to anyone then they probably wouldn't think about it like you have."

"But that's horrible!"

Cedric gave her a sympathetic look but it did nothing to calm Lizzie's anger at the fact that the Gryffindors may just be letting it go over their heads. She simmered in silence for a few minutes before Cedric gently touched her arm.

"We'll talk to Professor Sprout about it next time she's in the common room, okay? She'll know what to do."

Lizzie nodded, "okay, thank you."

"Anytime," Cedric smiled at her. "You should probably get back to Ernie now, or he'll panic that I've kidnapped you or something."

She rolled her eyes, "you joke but I wouldn't be surprised," and with that she stood and walked back over to the first years, feeling considerably less worried.

As it turned out, Professor Sprout came into the common room to check on the students and bring a new plant (leaping toadstools) for them all to have a look at.

Ernie got slightly distracted by this fact and spent a good 10 minutes asking Professor Sprout questions about them so it was quite a while before Cedric could get a word in edgeways to ask if he and Lizzie could talk to her.

"That's fine, I need to check on a few of the first years, but I suppose I'll be able to speak to Lizzie when I talk to you…" she trailed off, thinking about it, "I'll be with you both shortly."

After being fundamentally dismissed, Cedric and Lizzie went to sit at one of the tables in the alcoves along the side of the common room.

"I'm feeling nervous about this. Why am I feeling nervous about this?" Lizzie muttered, wringing her hands under the table.

"I honestly have no idea," Cedric laughed, "do you want me to do all the talking?"

She nodded, "I feel like I'll squeak instead of talking."

He laughed at her again and she glared across the table at him.

"I will fight you with all 6 spells I know."

"Sure, Lizzie, sure."

She glared at him again, "shut up."

He grinned at her, "how's life?"

"Plodding along, yours?"

"Busy," he huffed. "seen Malfoy recently?"

Lizzie pondered over the question for a moment, "no more than usual."

Cedric frowned at her, "why not?"

She shrugged, "no idea, we just haven't."

He frowned again, "everything okay?"

She smiled at him, "yes, it is, don't worry."

"Good," Cedric grinned.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

Lizzie wiggled her eyebrows at him, "any special people in your life?"

"So you admit you and Malfoy are a thing?"

She glared, "I didn't say that, and I most certainly didn't mean to imply that."

Cedric held up his hands in mock surrender, "okay, okay," he smiled at her. "But no, there isn't."

Lizzie huffed, "how dull."

It was at that point that Professor Sprout came over, "okay, so what did you want to speak about, my dears?"

They exchanged a look, Lizzie really hoping that Cedric would take the hint and she wouldn't have to explain it given that she had no idea what to say.

It seemed he had taken the hint since he began to explain the situation with Neville to Professor Sprout. She listened attentively for the few minutes it took for him to tell her what had happened earlier that day and how Lizzie was feeling rather concerned about it.

When Cedric finished speaking, Professor Sprout sat quietly for a short while, a frown gracing her face as she pondered over what to say.

"It's definitely a difficult situation," she paused again, apparently thinking some more. "I'm glad you brought this up with me, thank you, Cedric, Lizzie."

"I just hate the idea of him not being okay," Lizzie explained, wringing her hands together.

Professor Sprout gently patted her knew, "I know, and I'll speak to Professor McGonagall about your concerns tomorrow. As Neville's head of house she may be the best person to find out what is really going on."

"You mean you don't believe Lizzie?" Cedric asked, sounding slightly indignant on her behalf.

Their head of house shook her head, "it's not that, don't worry, it's just that we can't really do anything about it unless we hear it from the student themselves."

"Not even from witnesses?" Lizzie asked, confused by this notion.

"Unfortunately not," Professor Sprout did look genuinely upset by this fact, and Lizzie felt slightly appeased by this fact, as bad as it was.

"But you'll do all you can?" Cedric questioned.

"Definitely," Professor Sprout nodded, "I'll speak with Professor McGonagall at dinner. Now, Lizzie, how is work going?"

Their conversation was relatively short, Lizzie had explained that she was understanding everything a lot quicker and Cedric backed her up, telling Professor Sprout how he didn't need to go over much with her anymore. Professor Sprout had smiled and moved on to talking to some of the other Hufflepuffs, primarily the fifth years by the looks of it.

Lizzie wandered back over to the other first years to catch them up on everything that had happened before dinner, and Cedric went back to his friends.

Susan took a similar view to her, that something needed to be done and it wasn't fair on Neville for Snape to continue treating him like he was. It wasn't that the others disagreed, but they could see it from Professor Sprout's side (not that Lizzie and Susan couldn't, they were just slightly more passionate with their rage).

The topic was thoroughly exhausted by the time it came to them all being hungry and ready to go to dinner. Ernie kept insisting how it was for the best since they probably shouldn't be slating Snape to the extent that they were whilst around all of the teachers, but Justin just kept telling him to shut up every time he did. By the time they were at the dinner table nobody was talking about Snape's bullying ways anymore.

Dinner was uneventful; Ernie was told to shut up a few more times for trying to teach them about some concept he'd read about. It was after dinner on their way out of the hall that something interesting happened.

"Lizzie?" a quiet voice spoke up behind the group.

Lizzie turned around to see Hermione Granger nervously moving from one foot to the other. She could understand why, it must have been quite intimidating to want to speak to one person and have to go up to them when they're in a group of people you didn't really know.

"I'll meet you guys back at the common room," Lizzie said, essentially dismissing the other Hufflepuffs.

They all nodded, saying their goodbyes to her and wandered off towards the stairs that led to the basement corridor and where they slept.

"Everything alright?" Lizzie asked, glad to see that Hermione had relaxed somewhat.

"I was wondering if you'd want to study together in the library tomorrow?" she said, all in a rush, so much so that Lizzie was slightly taken aback.

"Ummmm, what?" Lizzie replied, confused at the onslaught of words which had suddenly hit her.

"Would you want to study together in the library tomorrow?" Hermione asked, much more calmly this time around.

Lizzie considered her for a moment. She'd only officially met Hermione earlier that day, but she knew her reputation as the know it all of the year and so was still confused as to why she would want to study with her.

"You want to study with me?" Lizzie knew her tone conveyed this confusion and unfortunately may come across as slightly rude, but she was incredibly confused by it all.

"Why wouldn't I?"

It was a fair enough question.

"Because you're really smart and I'm not…"

"I disagree with you, Neville says you're smart and incredibly helpful to him when studying."

Lizzie flushed at that, "I don't think I'm that helpful."

Hermione smiled at her, "well he does and that's good enough for me. Ron and Harry are pretty useless when it comes to study partners and I need someone who'll help push me."

"So you want me?" The confusion wasn't exactly lessening.

"Of course," Hermione smiled again, "Neville said he thought we'd work well together, if you need anymore reassurance."

Lizzie considered, "I guess it could be fun, what time were you thinking?"

Hermione grinned at her, "would after lunch at around 2 be good?"

"Sounds great," Lizzie finally smiled back, confusion all gone and she was beginning to feel very at ease around Hermione.

Hermione gave her one final smile and waved goodbye, before disappearing up the stairs in the entrance hall.

Lizzie smiled to herself and went back to the common room, undoubtedly where her brother was waiting to find out what Hermione had wanted and when they had begun speaking.


	30. Chapter 30

"Hi, sorry I'm late!" Lizzie stumbled over to the table Hermione had set all her books up at, after having been wrapped up in an intense debate with Ernie about who learnt to walk first.

"It's fine," Hermione said, looking up from the book she was making notes from, "I haven't been here long anyway."

"Really?" Lizzie asked, staring at the books surrounding her.

She grinned sheepishly, "I brought most of these from the common room, I've had them out for a few days now."

"Ah, fair enough," Lizzie set a few books on the table before pulling out a chair and sitting down to work.

They worked in silence for around 40 minutes before Hermione broke it.

"Do you know of someone called Nicholas Flamel?"

"What?" Lizzie was still half focused on the paragraph she had been reading.

"Do you know someone called Nicholas Flamel?"

"No, I don't think so, are they in Gryffindor?"

"No, truth be told I don't know who he is, I'm trying to find out you see."

This piqued Lizzie's interest and sent her focus fully onto Hermione, "why?"

Hermione flushed, as though she had said too much about something, "no real reason, just academic stuff, you know?"

Lizzie narrowed her eyes slightly, not entirely sure whether or not to believe her but she knew there was no way she was getting any more information so she opted for nodding and going back to her book.

About another 5 minutes passed before Hermione spoke again.

"If you do hear anything about him?"

"I'll let you know," Lizzie said with a smile.

Hermione smiled back at her, "thank you."

The rest of the afternoon passed with a few questions being asked back and forth, but for the majority of the time they worked in silence.

It was interesting having Hermione as a study partner. Whereas Neville was a lot chattier, well, all the Hufflepuffs were fairly chatty too, and Cedric felt like he was breathing over her shoulder some of the time, with Hermione it felt more like being with Draco. They both got on with their own thing and only actually bothered with each other when they had to.

She knew they didn't get on though. She'd seen the way Draco treated the Gryffindors and knowing Hermione was muggle-born, Lizzie didn't imagine that he was quite as 'kind' to her. That made her sad in a way, Justin was muggle-born and Lizzie knew the matter of blood didn't make a difference in anyone. On that note, she made a mental note to speak to Draco about it at some point.

"You're quite close to Draco Malfoy aren't you?" Hermione broke the silence, pulling Lizzie from her thoughts.

"You could say that," Lizzie answered, careful to keep looking at the page she was only half reading.

"Why?"

That made her look up.

"Why what?"

"Why are you friends with him?" Hermione did look genuinely confused by the whole matter.

Lizzie thought over it for a moment, "I get on with him I guess, I've never really thought about it that much."

"But you seem so nice, and Neville's said you're really kind. So why are you friends with someone like him?"

"He's not cruel to me. I'm not condoning his behaviour," she said quickly, seeing Hermione open her mouth to say something, "but any time he has been not completely nice to me he's apologised. I don't agree with a lot of his opinions, but he treats me like a friend so I can't complain about that."

Hermione nodded, "that's fair enough, and you don't seem to think like he does."

"Honestly," Lizzie began, "I don't know how many of his opinions are really his and how many are his parents'."

"What are they like? He goes on about his father quite a lot."

Lizzie pulled a face, and Hermione laughed, "not a fan?"

"Not at all, he gets on with my parents so I struggle to like him."

Hermione frowned at her, "do you not get on with your parents?" The idea seemed ludicrous to her.

"It's complicated," Lizzie mumbled, slightly irritated at herself for opening up as much as she had.

Hermione nodded, returning to her work and leaving the conversation at that.

Lizzie tried to do the same but couldn't even half concentrate on the page she wasn't even able to fully read three minutes ago.

"I'm going to head back to the common room I think," she explained, packing her belongings up into her bag.

Hermione looked up at her from her book, "okay, I'm sorry if I pried."

"It's fine," she said, even though she didn't feel fine with it all.

'Get yourself together, Lizzie," she thought to herself, trying to vaguely collect herself to walk back to the common room.

"And if I find anything about Nicholas Flamel then I'll let you know," she said to Hermione before leaving their table and making the short walk back to the common room.

Ernie was of course sat at a little table at the side of the room getting on with work when she got back. Lizzie headed straight over to him, just generally feeling the need to be with her twin at this point in time.

Sitting down next to him, she leaned her head onto his shoulder. She felt him turn his head to look at her; it wasn't like she'd have been able to see him with her eyes cast downward.

"You okay?"

Lizzie shrugged, she honestly didn't really know.

Once more she felt Ernie move, this time pulling back slightly to look at her, although she only knew that because her head fell off of his shoulder as he moved.

"What happened in the library?"

"Hermione asked why me and Draco are friends, not that I blame her."

"You okay?"

She shrugged again, and then said with a laugh, "my answer hasn't changed in the past 30 seconds."

"Want to talk about it?"

Another shrug.

"I'll just sit here then," and he went back to reading the book in front of him, but swung an arm around her shoulders so she could lean into him comfortably.

A few minutes passed in silence, and she began to feel better, more at ease, as the time went on.

"While I remember, I told Sprout we'd be going home for Christmas when she came round to check who was staying."

"Okay," Lizzie mumbled.

"You do want to go home, right?"

"You know what our parents are like, I'll happily go home but they don't help a lot of matters."

"I know," he said, giving her a reassuring squeeze, "they'll probably just keep asking about you and Draco."

She groaned, "shit, they're going to aren't they…"

"Definitely."

"Crap, Ernie why did you have to say that?"

He chuckled, "because I'm really helpful like that."

"Well can you not?"

"Sorry, part of my job description."

Lizzie pulled back slightly and smiled at her brother, "thank you."

"Feeling better?"

"Much," she smiled again.

"Good, Susan and Hannah are in your dormitory, run along I have to do work."

She stuck her tongue out at him, but did head up to her dormitory to see the girls.


	31. Chapter 31

After 3 and a half months at Hogwarts, Christmas was finally here.

Lizzie was packing her trunk with all her belongings to catch the Hogwarts Express back to London, where she would then be going back home. Susan and Hannah were staying at the castle over the holidays, and Lizzie couldn't help but be slightly jealous of the fact that they'd get to spend more time together and grow closer, but she knew it would be relatively easy for her to slip back into their little trio as though nothing had changed so it didn't worry her too much.

Plus, she guessed that they felt strange when it came to her and Ernie since they'd grown up together and everything. Even then, she fitted in with Ernie and Justin quite well and how close they were… come to think of it, all the Hufflepuff first years had grown fairly close and just worked with one another. Except maybe Zacharias. They tried with him but he had a funny air to him. Lizzie shrugged it off and continued to pack.

The girls were in the common room with the boys so Lizzie couldn't get too distracted from packing. Those of them leaving for Christmas (all but Susan and Hannah) had to leave for the train in 15 minutes and she'd left it until the last minute. Ernie was stressing about it so he'd told the girls there weren't say their goodbyes until she had finished.

She took a final look around the room as she threw a final pair of shoes into her trunk. It didn't look like she'd left anything behind, and if she had then it was only for a few weeks anyway.

Lizzie locked her trunk and began to drag it down to the common room, tripping over thin air as she did so. When she finally managed to get it into the common room, Ernie ran over to help her finish the short distance to their friends.

"Got everything?" Justin asked, standing up so that they could begin their goodbyes to Susan and Hannah.

"I really hope so," Lizzie said, turning to Susan and Hannah and to give them each a hug, "I'll write to you both when I get home, have a lovely Christmas here. You have to tell me what the Christmas dinner is like!"

Susan giggled and hugged her back, "we will don't worry, you just focus on staying sane over Christmas."

"Definitely, you'll only have Ernie around, how boring," Hannah teased, giving Lizzie her goodbye hug and sending a grin Ernie's way.

Ernie huffed at them both, "I'm not that bad."

The Hufflepuffs laughed, as the boys each got their goodbye hugs from the girls. Once each of them had said their goodbyes and given their hugs, Hannah and Susan headed back up to their dormitory, and the rest up them headed up to the entrance hall.

The entrance hall wasn't exactly empty, but it was a lot less crowded than Lizzie was expecting. She figured loads of people would want to go home and spend the holidays with their families but apparently not. That being said, she could imagine next year preferring to spend time with friends over Christmas.

"Lizzie!" Justin's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"What?"

Justin flicked his head towards Ernie, who was stood beside her with her arms crossed.

"Yes, oh brother dear," she said, wondering how long she'd been not registering him talking for.

"I was trying to ask if you knew what our parents had planned for Christmas Eve."

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "you're the one that owls them, how am I supposed to know."

"I thought Malfoy may have mentioned something."

She shrugged, "I know his family are having another ball. I don't know if we're invited or whether or not we're going."

"Didn't he invite you?" Zacharias questioned, a slight disbelieving tone in his voice.

"He's just mostly complained about it. I know Blaise is going because he never shuts up about the fact that Blaise will be his _saving grace_." Lizzie rolled her eyes at the amount of times she'd heard that phrase used in the past week.

"So we may or may not be going?" Ernie asked, sounding utterly confused.

Lizzie paused for a minute, trying to understand what he just asked.

"We may or may not be going, I guess we'll find out tonight," she replied.

Ernie nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer.

"What are you two doing over Christmas?" Lizzie asked Zacharias and Justin.

"Not a lot," Justin shrugged, "it'll just be Christmas with the family and me being questioned about this term."

Zacharias smiled, "I doubt we'll be doing a lot. It'll be nice to see the whole family though."

"How big a Christmas do you have?" Justin asked.

"The whole family, so grandparents, cousins, the entire bunch really."

"Really?"

"Do you not?"

Justin shook his head, "no, just me and my parents."

Zacharias looked completely shocked so Lizzie elbowed him in the side to get him to shut his mouth and stop gaping at the poor boy.

Justin gave Lizzie a grateful look, and turned to her and Ernie, "what about you two?"

"Just us and our parents, we don't have much other close family," Ernie answered for the pair of them.

"Zacharias, you win biggest Christmas," Lizzie joked, as the huge doors opened and they were able to begin filing out of the hall and making their way to the station.

The students all around them created an excited and bubbly atmosphere. Lizzie couldn't wait to go home, despite the arguments she was sure to get into with her parents. It didn't matter. It would be nice to be home for a little while and away from the constant hustle and bustle of Hogwarts, and even though she loved all her friends, it would be nice to get away from it all.

They made their way down the path and climbed into one of the carriages.

"Do you guys feel weird leaving for Christmas?" Ernie asked, looking out of the window back at the castle.

"A bit," Lizzie said with a shrug.

"What she said," Justin said, pointing at Lizzie.

Zacharias let out a grunt and shrugged, making them all laugh.

The carriage jolted over the road, taking them away from the castle that had been their home for the past few months and towards the homes they'd known all their lives.

Lizzie was glad to be going home, not entirely sure how enthusiastic she was about having to deal with questions about her and Draco but she was glad to be heading home. She made a mental note to owl Draco when she knew more about what was happening over Christmas and whether or not she was being dragged along to their party.

Ernie nudged her out of her thoughts so they could leave the carriage to get onto the train.

"Now what?" Justin asked, looking around the platform for whatever to do next.

"Get your trunks and board the train," an older student said, walking past them.

"Thank…," Ernie began but they'd already walked out of earshot, "you…" he finished with a huff.

"Come on," Lizzie rolled her eyes at him and followed the crowd of students walking to where she assumed the trunks were.

The boys hurried after her, even though she really didn't have any clue where she was going.

It turned out she was right with following people and pretty soon they and their trunks were bundled into a compartment and the train was pulling out of Hogsmeade Station.

"Anyone want a game of exploding snap?" Zacharias asked, gesturing to his trunk where a pack was stowed.

The two other boys nodded enthusiastically but Lizzie just rolled her eyes and pulled a book out of her bag so she could carry on some reading. However, after 30 minutes it was far more entertaining to watch the boys becoming more and more stressed at the game.

After another 15 or so minutes, the pack exploded and singed half of one of Justin's eyebrows off. The other three burst into laughter just as a knock sounded at their compartment's door. Justin got open, a scowl on his face to open the door.

"Hey guys, what happened to your eyebrow?" Cedric asked, a smirk gracing his face as he obviously tried not to laugh.

Justin muttered something about exploding snap before he went back to his seat and continued to sulk. Cedric and Mark joined them in their compartment, making three on each side: Zacharias, Lizzie, and Mark on one; Ernie, Justin, and Cedric on the other.

"Are Hannah and Susan staying at Hogwarts for the holidays then?" Mark asked, causing Lizzie to roll her eyes.

"Are you really telling us Hannah didn't tell you that?" she smirked at him, making Ernie break into another fit of laughter.

Mark flushed, red colouring his cheeks, "I knew, I just thought I'd make conversation."

"Well we appreciate your attempt, but it really wasn't the best," Justin piped up, the sulk apparently forgotten.

"Shut up, I'll make you lose the rest of that eyebrow."

Cedric raised his eyebrow at that, "is that a challenge, Mark?"

"Might be," Mark grinned at his friend.

"You guys want another game?" Cedric asked the first years.

Lizzie shook her head, "I'm not a huge fan of it."

"We'll all play though," Justin answered for the others.

"Swap places with me then?" Mark said to Lizzie, standing to allow her to shuffle over.

Grabbing her book, she moved down the compartment bench and made herself comfortable so she could continue to read. Cedric grinned at her before focusing his attention on the game at hand.

That was how the majority of the train journey progressed; the boys bantering and scorching parts of their facial hair off much to Lizzie's amusement. When the lady with the trolley came around the game took a break for a little while and they chattered about the term so far, what the first years thought of the work, what they all thought of various teachers, any gossip that had taken place (not a lot compared to previous years apparently).

Draco stopped by around mid-afternoon, but seemed fairly uncomfortable at just how many people were actually with Lizzie so he left pretty quickly. She wouldn't have noticed anything was off since he said hello and told her that he would owl her at some point, and to her this was perfectly normal behaviour for a quick chat, but Crabbe and Goyle glared at all the boys as they walked past. Even this didn't really make her think anything of it but she wondered aloud why it had happened and Ernie laughed about the fact that Draco couldn't stand having to compete for her attention, making Lizzie blush somewhat and roll her eyes.

By the time they pulled into Kingscross it was dark outside and Lizzie was ready to go home. She'd enjoyed the journey but the idea of being home was heaven right now. Cedric promised to write to her as he hugged her goodbye and reassured her that the tutoring didn't necessarily have to stop just because they couldn't study together; she socked him (gently) on the arm for that.

"I'll see you both on the way back," Justin said, giving Lizzie a one armed hug so he could speak to her and her brother.

"You better," Ernie grinned at him.

Justin shook his head and took off to find his parents, sending them a wave over his shoulder.

"You ready to go home?" Ernie asked his sister.

Lizzie took a breath, "without a doubt."

"Let's go find mother and father then."

Lizzie let herself enjoy the moment of pure happiness at being back home, and able to see her parents. She knew that wouldn't last, but just for now it was nice to feel happy about it.


	32. Chapter 32

"So how was your first term at Hogwarts?"

It was the evening of Ernie and Lizzie arriving home and they were sat at the dinner table with their mother and father, although their father was more focused on reading the evening edition of the Daily Prophet.

"Fine thank you, mother," Ernie answered, taking a bite from his shepherd's pie.

"And Elizabeth, how did you find it?" their mother asked .

Lizzie took a gulp of her water, pondering over how to best answer the question.

"It was good thank you," she opted for the simplest response possible.

"I thought you had some difficulty to begin with?" their father finally joined the conversation.

"I did, but I got through it and I'm finding it a lot more manageable now."

"Ernest, is that true?" he asked her brother. It physically pained Lizzie to hold the eye roll in.

Ernie choked on his food at the question, "yes, it is."

"Hmmm," their father said, returning to his paper.

"At least you're managing better now," their mother said.

Lizzie made a small noise of agreement, ducking her head and focusing on her food. The rest of the meal passed in a slightly awkward silence, and Lizzie escaped after they'd all finished with their main course.

Collapsing on her bed Lizzie thought over the next few weeks. She'd have to deal with this kind of thing most days and she already knew it was going to take its toll on her. Although, it wasn't like she hadn't already had 11 years of practise.

Lizzie sat up, it was only for a few weeks; she would be fine. She had Ernie. She was going to have Draco and various others when they owled. On that note she should maybe talk to her parents about an owl she could use. Unless Cedric had one, and he had said that he would write to her so fingers crossed that all would work itself out.

A knock sounded on her door.

"Yeah?" she called, flopping back so she was lying on her back once more.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" it was her mother.

"Fine thank you," Lizzie responded, continuing to stare at the ceiling.

"Elizabeth," her mother walked further into her room and shut the door behind her, "you know you can talk to me if anything is bothering you?"

'Can I?' Lizzie thought, but out loud she said "I know, mother, I think it's just been a long day and a long term."

"That's understandable," her mother came and sat down on Lizzie's bed. "But me and your father are always here if you need us, and you can come to us with any problems."

"Okay, thank you."

She heard her mother sigh and felt her stand up, moving over to the door.

"I suppose I'll see you in the morning then, goodnight, Elizabeth."

"Night, mother."

Lizzie heard the door open again.

"Oh, Ernest, are you saying goodnight to your sister?"

"Yes, mother, that's what I was planning on doing."

"Well don't spend too long, goodnight, Ernest."

"Goodnight, mother."

The door closed and footsteps came across the room before Ernie sat down on her bed.

"Well, that didn't take long."

"Shut up."

"I'm sorry," he shuffled up and lay down beside her.

"You're right though, and thank you for trying to back me up."

"I did try."

She elbowed him, "I know you did," but a smile grew on her face.

"It'll be fine," Ernie said, and she elbowed him again. "Okay, so maybe not completely fine, but I've got your back."

"I know you do," Lizzie sighed, "it's going to be a long few weeks."

"So long, but it'll be fun," he replied, elbowing her back.

"You better be right about that."

"I will be, and we are going to the Malfoy's Christmas Eve party. Father brought it up after you ran out."

"I did not run out!"

"Okay, speed walked, but we're going."

"Okay, that's not too bad then."

"Not too bad," Ernie scoffed, "it's alright for you, you get on with them."

"You get on with our parents, you can't have both," Lizzie laughed.

"Just promise me you won't ditch me."

"I won't," she said, sticking her hand up, "pinky promise."

"I don't need a pinky promise."

Lizzie raised her eyebrows at him, keeping her pinky in the air.

"Okay, I need a pinky promise," Ernie smiled, connecting his pinky with hers.

Another knock sounded at the door.

"Please, miss," a little voice called through the door, "Minky has a letter for you."

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "that'll probably be Draco." She sat up and swung her legs off of the bed, "come in, Minky."

The door opened and Minky scurried into the room with an Eagle Owl balancing on her head.

"Please, Miss Lizzie, there is a letter for you."

"Thank you, Minky," Lizzie said, stretching her arm out for the owl to fly onto it, which it did, "hello Bubo Bubo, did you have a good flight?" She stroked the owl gently and it cooed back at her.

"Goodnight, Miss Lizzie, Mr Ernest, have a good sleep," Minky squeaked and hurried back out of the room.

"I'll leave you to reply to Draco," Ernie said, a smile on his face as he got up.

"I'll see you in the morning," Lizzie smiled, giving her brother a hug.

"Well yeah, we live in the same house," he scoffed, but hugged her back and left her room.

Lizzie rolled her eyes and moved over to her desk, depositing Bubo Bubo on the table and taking the letter from him.

 _Elizabeth,_

 _I hope your parents haven't been too awful to you already. I've already heard about how I should be doing more to truly represent the Malfoy family. I've told them that I can't do too much when Prince Potter has got everyone under his thumb but that's not good enough for them apparently._

Lizzie rolled her eyes.

 _I've heard that your family has been invited to our Christmas Eve party, I hope you're coming. Whilst Blaise is adequate company, it would be nice if you were here. At least with you I can have decent conversation. Not that Blaise isn't good for talking to, just you're better._

She smiled at that, and made a mental note to tease Draco about his excellent ability to dig a hole and keep digging.

 _I'm sorry I didn't speak to you on the train earlier, it just felt like you were around too many people and I don't really know many of them. Actually, whilst I remember I'd like to get to know your brother better, so could we do that at the Christmas party? Anyway, yeah, I would have spoken to you for longer but it felt like I shouldn't._

 _Blaise wants me to ask you if it's okay for him to owl you over Christmas? You don't have to if you don't want to, he'll understand, and if you don't want to, I'll understand. Not that I'm saying you shouldn't because of me. We can share Blaise as a friend, I don't mind._

The next bit had a load of scratches through it but Lizzie could just about make it out.

 _I don't know how I feel about sharing you as a friend_.

Lizzie blushed at that and opted for ignoring it.

 _Write to me soon, Bubo Bubo will wait around for a reply._

 _Yours faithfully,_

 _Draco Malfoy_

Lizzie smiled at the letter and gave the owl another stroke.

"What's the time?" she wondered aloud, leaning back on her chair to check the time. It was barely even 9pm. "Plenty of time," she said, pulling a few sheets of paper towards her so she could write a reply.

 _Good evening Draco,_

 _I've already had comments made on the fact that I was struggling earlier this term, which is always fun. Ernie tried to back me up with the fact that I'm struggling a lot less now but that still isn't good enough for my father apparently. My mother is trying to be supportive, I can tell, but I don't feel like I want to talk to her about the fact that I'm feeling shitty because of them._

 _I'm sorry your parents aren't happy with how you're getting on at school. I know it can't be easy being told that you need to uphold the family name, it's a lot of pressure, but you'll get it done. Is it just your father putting the pressure on you, or your mother too? I know you said she can sometimes take your side._

 _Ernie came and told me that we've been invited and are going (I left the dinner table before we got told). I'm looking forward to going, and it would mean a lot to me if you would want to get to know Ernie during the party. It'll be nice to see Blaise though, and tell him I don't mind him owling me. If you can bear to share him as a friend that is._

 _I understand about the train, it's fine, it's not like I'm not going to see you at all over the Christmas holidays. I mean I'll be seeing you Christmas eve._

 _Love,_

 _Elizabeth._

There, that was a decent response.

Lizzie folded it up and put it in an envelope.

"Now, Bubo, it's up to you, do you feel up to another flight and letter delivery tonight or do you want to wait until the morning?"

The owl hooted and held his leg out.

"Okay then," Lizzie laughed, "here you go," and she gave him the letter, before holding out her arm for him to perch on.

Lizzie carried him over to the window and opened it wide enough for him to get out of.

"Have a good flight, I'm sure I'll see you soon."

He hooted in response and flew out into the night.

It was Christmas Eve and Lizzie was just finishing getting ready for the Malfoy's party. She'd opted (also known as her father deciding for her) for a simple green chiffon dress. Apparently it was well suited for Christmas, although Lizzie was more inclined to believe it was because it was the colour of Slytherin. But then she knew that it was a Christmas colour so she couldn't really complain, and it did look nice with her blonde hair and green eyes. Gazing at her reflection she gave a nod of approval and grabbed a cream cardigan from her wardrobe to wear over her dress, leaving the room to meet Ernie and her parents downstairs.

"Ah, Elizabeth, you look splendid," her mother said as way of a greeting.

"Thank you, mother," she replied, bobbing into a quick curtsy, although she wasn't entirely sure why.

"Yes, Elizabeth, you do look rather nice," her father said, looking up from his cuffs long enough to find out.

"I suppose you look okay," Ernie added, coming down the stairs behind her.

Lizzie rolled her eyes as their mother huffed at him, "now, Ernest, be kind to your sister."

"I'll do my best, mother."

"You're a prat, you know that?" Lizzie whispered to Ernie as their mother fussed over their father, helping him button his cuffs up.

"Totally," Ernie whispered back, "you look acceptable though."

Lizzie scoffed at him, "thanks, you look adequate."

"Wouldn't change it for the world."

"Come along you two!" their mother hurried them outside and into their pairings so that they could apparate to the party.

They arrived at the bottom of the Malfoy's drive and, once Lizzie and Ernie's heads had finish spinning, began the walk up the drive. It really did look lovely; there were fairy lights on the trees, and some actual fairies fluttering around if Lizzie wasn't mistaken.

"Now, best behaviour you two," their father was telling them, causing Lizzie a great many internal eye rolls. "Even though Elizabeth is friends with Draco, we still need to try and create a good impression, and Ernest, do your best to befriend some of the children as well."

"Yes, father," Ernie responded meekly, and Lizzie realised she hadn't actually told him that Draco wanted to get to know him.

"Actually, father, Draco asked me if he could get to know Ernie better during the party," she said, "I forgot to tell you," she explained to Ernie when he shot her a confused look.

"Wait, he does?" Ernie still looked confused.

"Yep," she nodded. "So he'll be able to," this was directed at her parents.

"Well done, Elizabeth," her father said. That took Lizzie aback, getting praise? From her father? Christmas miracle.

"I didn't really do anything," she mumbled.

By this time they'd made it to the front doors, which were open with a wavy sort of shimmer spreading across them.

"It'll be to keep the heat in," Lizzie's mother answered her unasked question.

"Thank you, mother."

As usual, her mother was right. Once they passed through the shimmer it was just the right level of warmth, even though the doors were wide open (and Lizzie suspected they had been that way for more of the evening and would stay that way the entire night).

"Lizzie!" Draco's voice called out as they entered and begun to take their coats off. "Dobby, over here," he said, looking around for the elf, who popped up by Lizzie's elbow.

"May I take your coats?" Dobby squeaked out, holding his hands out.

"Thank you, Dobby," Lizzie said, passing him her cardigan as the rest of her family did the same.

"My pleasure Misses and Misters," the elf squeaked, before running off to hang the coats up.

"Mr and Mrs Macmillan, would you mind if I stole Lizzie and Ernie away for a little while?" Draco asked, being incredibly polite which Lizzie didn't actually realise was possible for him.

"That's fine, Draco, if you see your parents could you thank them for inviting us?" their father answered.

"Of course, but they're just in the main dining hall if you would like to tell them yourselves. It's just through that door," he said, pointing it out to Lizzie and Ernie's parents.

"Thank you very much, have fun you two," their father said, and taking their mother's arm they walked off in that direction.

"Come on, I'm hiding from Pansy Parkinson in my room," Draco muttered, grabbing Lizzie's hand and dragging her off in that direction; Ernie following at a jog.

"Why?" he asked, shuffling along to keep pace with them.

"Because she's infuriating and keeps throwing herself at me, so me and Blaise are hiding upstairs and any time we want anything we just call for Dobby."

"Draco, you're going to pull my arm off, can you stop please?" Lizzie gasped out, in between laughs.

"What? Oh, sorry," Draco said, grinning and letting go.

"Thank you, now where?" Lizzie asked, looking around the corridor they'd ended up in.

"Just down here," Draco said, walking down a little side corridor and opening a door.

"Finally, I thought you'd managed to get lost," Blaise said as way of a greeting. "Hey, Lizzie," he said, getting up and giving her a tight hug, "Ernie," Ernie just got a nod and Lizzie rolled her eyes at it.

"Blaise," Ernie did the exact same thing back to him.

"Real smooth guys," Lizzie said, taking a moment to look around the room.

She couldn't say it was how she imaged it to look, or it wasn't how she imaged it to look, she'd never really given much thought to how Draco Malfoy's room would look. The floor was a dark wood, with dark, Slytherin green walls. There were a few rugs on the floor, all cream coloured, and his bed was a double four poster. There were bowls of food on the floor, where Blaise and Draco had obviously been sitting, and a few bottles of butterbeer.

"Decent room," Lizzie quipped at him, smiling over her shoulder.

"Thanks, I've done my best," he replied, sitting back on the floor where they had made their food nest.

The other three sat down, joining him, and he passed Lizzie and Ernie a bottle of butterbeer each.

"How have your holidays been so far?" Blaise asked them, taking a sip from his own bottle.

Lizzie grimaced, and Ernie rolled his eyes at her, "it's been alright," he said.

"Lizzie?" Blaise asked.

"It's happened," she explained.

"What's happened?" he asked, slightly concerned.

"Our parents have happened," she grimaced.

"Are they really that bad?"

"Ernie, explain please," Lizzie sat back on her hands.

"She can't do anything right."

"Thanks, Ernie, really great explanation."

"Sounds like Draco's," Blaise laughed.

"Isn't it fun?" Draco smirked, and Lizzie rolled her eyes.

"Just the best," she replied.

"How long are we going to be staying up here for?" Ernie wondered aloud.

"Until the Parkinsons leave because Draco is too scared to go down and face Pansy," Blaise smirked.

"I'm not scared! I just don't want to be strangled by the boa constrictor that she is,"

"He's scared," Blaise smirked at Lizzie and Ernie.

"I am not scared!" Draco huffed, crossing his arms and beginning to sulk.

"Sure, Draco," Lizzie teased.

"So what are we actually going to do?" Ernie asked.

"Draco's got a few board games and such we can play, until he feels brave enough to leave his room," Blaise explained.

"I'd suggest gobstones but I don't want to create too much of a mess," Draco offered.

"Well have you got chess?" Ernie asked, and Lizzie rolled her eyes; it was the one game he was actually good at.

"Yeah, but there's four of us… and chess only needs two players."

"I'll pass," Lizzie said quickly, she knew how to play and she was semi decent, but she didn't feel like spending her evening having to use her brain.

"I will too," Blaise smirked, "Lizzie, fancy going down to the party for a little while whilst these two play and get angry?"

Lizzie glanced at Draco and Ernie, it would create a good opportunity for them to get to know each other, "sounds good to me, Blaise."

"Great, see you guys in a little while," Blaise smirked, standing up and holding out a hand to pull Lizzie up.

"Try not to kill each other," Lizzie called over her shoulder as they left the room.

After Blaise shut the door Lizzie turned to him, "they won't kill each other, will they?"

"Shouldn't do," Blaise laughed, "I know I don't know your brother well but I can't imagine he's that annoying. Plus Draco wouldn't want to lose you so he can't be too much of a dick to Ernie."

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "if you're sure."

"Oh, believe me, I am," he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Shut up, and come on, I want to see the decorations and everything."

"They're amazing," Blaise said, leading the way back to the dining hall. "I've been coming every year for as long as I can remember. Our mothers are friends," he explained at her questioning look, "and they've definitely surpassed themselves."

"I guess they've got to, throwing the party every year," Lizzie mused.

"I guess so, but still, you'll see what I mean," he said, gesturing for her to go into the dining hall first.

Lizzie did see what he meant. At each end of the room was a giant (Lizzie reckoned probably 20 feet or taller) Christmas tree, one decked out in silver, one decked out in gold. There was some soft snow falling from the ceiling over the dance space, which had a 16 piece orchestra playing on a little stage behind it. There were tables of food along one of the walls; the food in question was only tiny little nibbles, but there were a lot of them, and house elves were scurrying around the room with trays of food and drink.

"They have done well," Lizzie noted, although it didn't seem like there was a lot that had actually be done.

"They've only ever had one tree before," Blaise explained, almost sensing her slight confusion at it all.

"Ah, yes, that makes a lot more sense," Lizzie smiled.

"I don't really know why they've always only just had one… although normally the orchestra takes up one end of the room."

"That might be why then," she smiled at him.

"Too true, come on, I'll introduce you to my mother."

"What?" but it was too late, he was already dragging her across the room.

"Mother," he said, coming to a stop in front of a stunningly beautiful witch. She had dark hair and eyes, much like her son, and was wearing an black glittering floor length gown.

"Mother," he repeated, "this is Elizabeth Macmillan, she's one of Draco's friends."

"Ah, Elizabeth, it's a pleasure to meet you," the woman said, a touch of an Italian accent apparent in her voice.

"The pleasure's all mine, Mrs Zabini," Elizabeth said, shaking the offered hand.

"It's always lovely to meet Draco and Blaise's friends, are you in Slytherin with them?"

"Lizzie's in Hufflepuff, Mother," Blaise explained, "Draco met her at the Malfoy's summer ball, that's how we know her."

"Ah, how refreshing, I do hope you'll bring some culture into my son's life, rather than pure Slytherin opinions and tastes."

Lizzie quirked her lip up at the subtle dig, "I'll do my best Mrs Zabini."

"Thank you, my dear, now if you'll excuse me, I really must get back to mingling with the other guests." She gave a final smile and walked away.

"So, yeah, that's my mother," Blaise said.

"She's really nice," Lizzie smiled, she liked Blaise's mother.

"She's alright I suppose."

"You have to say that, she's your mother."

"True," Blaise grinned, "want to get some food?"

"Always."

They made their way over to the closest table and each grabbed a plate. Blaise went straight to the pigs in blankets and loaded his plate with them, making Lizzie roll her eyes, and then do the same. They were pigs in blankets, it had to be done.

"Come on," Blaise led the way over to some chairs, where they could sit and eat their many, many pigs in blankets.

A few minutes of silence happened, mostly because they were both too busy eating to make conversation. They were good pigs in blankets.

"Shall we head back up?" Blaise asked, when he'd finally finished devouring his food.

"Ummm," Lizzie looked at her plate, which still had a few left on it.

"We'll give it a minute, they should be done with the game soon."

"We haven't been gone that long, have we?"

"No, but Draco's incredible at chess."

"So is Ernie," Lizzie thought back to how often he would play with their father whilst growing up.

"Oh, it may take a while then," Blaise grimaced.

"It'll be good for them."

"True, and it means I can actually get to know you a bit better. Draco's always a bit possessive over his friendship with you."

Lizzie frowned, "really?"

"Oh yeah, I'm surprised I was allowed to come down here with you."

She rolled her eyes, "he can't be that bad."

"You'd be surprised," Blaise smirked at her.

She flushed slightly, "shut up, and I'm done with my pigs in blankets, come on."

They stood up and were about to go back upstairs when a shriek rang out near them.

"Blaise!"

"Shit," Blaise groaned.

"What?" Lizzie asked, but before he could answer a shape flung herself into him.

"Blaise! Where is Drakey? I came to this party so I could see him and I can't find him anywhere!" the shape screeched.

Blaise grimaced in Lizzie's direction, "sorry, Pansy, I haven't seen him."

Pansy scowled and then finally looked at Lizzie, "who's she?"

'So polite,' Lizzie thought, doing her utmost best not to scowl back at the girl.

"This is Lizzie, Pansy, she's one of Draco's friends," Blaise introduced her and Lizzie held her hand out.

Pansy looked at it with distaste before ignoring it completely, "really? I don't know her."

"I don't think you know all of Draco's friends," Blaise said through gritted teeth.

"Of course I do!" she squawked, "I know everyone worth knowing."

Lizzie couldn't help but glare at her at that, and hexes began running through her head (admittedly it was a short list, she didn't know many).

"Well you can't if you don't know Lizzie," Blaise said. "She's incredibly important to Draco so you can't be that close to him if you've no idea who she is. He's spent half the year speaking about her."

Pansy spluttered, "but she's not in Slytherin!"

"No, well spotted."

"Then how does he know her?"

"He met me at his family's summer ball this summer just been," Lizzie was fed up of being spoken for so she piped up.

Pansy rounded on her, "oh, and I suppose it didn't occur to you that you should associate with a Slytherin. What are you? Do you even go to Hogwarts?"

Lizzie glanced at Blaise, "does she realise we've met before?"

"No, I don't think she does," he responded, laughing slightly.

"No we haven't," Pansy glared.

"Yes, you have, she was with Draco down by the lake, I think it was, one time."

"Well that's only one time!"

"You've still met her."

Pansy glared at the pair of them, "if neither of you are going to be helpful then I shall leave you, goodbye." And with that she stormed away.

"That was fun," Lizzie said, as they both stared after her retreating form.

"She's definitely a special kind of something."

"She's a bitch."

"Got it in one, Lizzie. Got it in one."

"Shall we go back up now?"

"Definitely, I don't feel like being attacked by Parkinson again."

They hurried back up to Draco's room, running into Dobby on the way and requesting some cakes from him. When they eventually got back up, the chess game was still going and it didn't look like anyone would be winning any time soon.

"You guys have been gone a while," Ernie commented, not taking his eyes off of the board.

"We got attacked by Pansy," Blaise replied, and Draco sat bolt upright.

"What?! Did you tell her where I was? Lizzie, are you okay?"

"She's fine, I'm not, but thanks for your concern," Blaise smirked at his best friend.

Draco rolled his eyes, "I'm sorry, Blaise, are you okay?"

"I was attacked by Parkinson, of course I'm not okay."

"She barely touched you," Lizzie laughed at him.

"I still had to touch and talk to her."

"Oh yes, I forgot how terrible that was," she rolled her eyes.

Draco scoffed, "so it really wasn't all that bad."

"No," Lizzie smiled, rolling her eyes at Blaise.

"It was horrific!" Blaise insisted, but there was a smile in his eyes.

The rest of the evening passed with a great deal of teasing and a few more games of chess, which Lizzie and Blaise continued to stay out of. The overall chess score ended up being 2 all, and they were going to have a final game to decide, but Dobby popped into the room and said that "Mr and Mrs Malfoy wanted Draco and his friends down for midnight, and it was 11.50 now."

"Dobby, is Pansy still here?" Draco asked.

"Yes Mister Malfoy, but her parents are not letting her leave them as she screeched a lot earlier."

"So if I avoid her parents I avoid her?"

"Yes Mister Malfoy."

"Thank you, Dobby," and the elf disapparated. "We should probably go back down," Draco said to the other three.

"Probably," Lizzie agreed, getting up and brushing her skirt down.

They made their way back down to the dining hall, and when they got their Lizzie and Ernie ran off to find their parents quickly.

"So you and Blaise?" Ernie said, a teasing note in his voice.

"Even less than me and Draco," Lizzie said, rolling her eyes.

"Obviously, you are Draco are a couple waiting to happen."

"No, Ernest, we're not."

"Don't call be Ernest!"

"Ah, there you two are, where have you been for the past 4 hours?" their mother said as way of a greeting.

"Ernie's been playing chess with Draco," Lizzie said quickly, before Ernie could make a comment.

"And Elizabeth, what have you been doing?" their father asked, sending her a stern look that was probably because it sounded like Lizzie hadn't been with them.

"I've been getting to know Blaise Zabini a bit more, he's one of Draco's best friends," as much as it pained Lizzie to make it sound like the only reason she'd been with Blaise was because he was friends with Draco, she knew it would shut her father up.

"Good choice, my dear," their mother said, "now run along both of you."

With their clear dismissal, the twins made their way through the crowd to find Draco and Blaise again. Shockingly, they were by the food.

"Did you find your parents?" Draco said, with a mouthful of food.

Lizzie wrinkled her nose at this, "yes, we did."

"Have you spoken to yours?" Ernie asked, taking a bite of a fancy looking scotch egg.

"Yep, I'm allowed to spend the rest of the party with my friends but I'm expected to have some conversation with Parkinson."

Blaise laughed, "it doesn't get any less funny."

"Shut up, Zabini, or I'll uninvite you for Christmas."

"Sure, Malfoy, sure."

Lizzie rolled her eyes at the pair. "How do we know when it hits midnight?"

As if on cue, a clock struck 12 and Narcissa Malfoy's amplified voice rang out through the hall.

"If everyone would like to make their way outside, we have a small fireworks display."

The guests all started moving towards the French doors which would take them outside, but Draco led their little group round to a side exit, which all took them to a more secluded part of the balcony/veranda/fancy outdoor standing area.

"We'll still be able to see the fireworks from here, but I don't really feel like being crowded by everyone," Draco explained.

The other three nodded, looking towards the general firework setting off area (also known as the sky).

"How's it still warm out here?" Lizzie asked, noticing the distinct lack of chill.

"Some charms or something, I didn't really pay attention when father tried to tell me about it," Draco answered as the first of the fireworks went off.

The display only lasted about 10 minutes, but it was definitely something to behold. Some fireworks changed coloured midway, others forming patterns and pictures, and it ended with a huge green and red "Merry Christmas to all of our friends!"

"That's also better than their previous firework displays," Blasie whispered to Lizzie as it finished.

"What was that, Blaise?" Draco said, smirking at his friend.

"I've just been informing Lizzie all evening on how you've improved your Christmas party this year," Blaise grinned at him.

Draco smirked again, "of course, would you really doubt that?"

"What are they normally like?" Ernie asked. Lizzie guessed he was feeling slightly left out of the conversation.

"Less fireworks," Blaise smirked, "shall we go inside?"

The other three nodded and Draco led the way back in.

"We should probably go and find our parents," Ernie said, glancing at Lizzie, who nodded in agreement.

"It was nice to see you both," Draco said, giving Ernie and handshake and Lizzie a hug.

"Same from me," Blaise said, doing the same.

"Bye you two," Lizzie smiled at them.

"I've really enjoyed this evening, thank you," Ernie said, and he and Lizzie left to find their parents.

"Did you enjoy this evening?" she asked, finally having the opportunity to talk to him properly.

"I actually did," he smiled at her, "Draco isn't that bad. Still a bit of a prick, but not too bad. Ah, there they are," Ernie had managed to spot them.

"I'm glad you think so," Lizzie said, smiling back as they made their way over to their parents, who were talking to Mr and Mrs Malfoy.

"Ah, there you both," their mother was the first of out of the adults to take note of them.

"Good, we were just about to come and look for you," their father said, barely glancing at them.

"Thank you for inviting us Mr and Mrs Malfoy, we've had a wonderful evening," Lizzie said, smiling at them.

"Any time, dear, it's nice that Draco has such a lovely friend," Narcissa Malfoy smiled warmly at her.

"Thank you for having us," Ernie piped up, and Narcissa turned to face him.

"Any time, it was lovely to have you too."

"Well, goodbye Narcissa, Lucius," their father nodded to both the Malfoys.

"Goodbye," their mother said, kissing both of them on the cheek, "I'll see you next week for lunch then, Narcissa?"

"Yes that will be wonderful, goodbye," Narcissa replied, and the Macmillans walked back out of the dining hall to collect their coats.

"Here they are Mr's and Misses," a new elf squeaked, holding them out.

"Thank you," Lizzie said as she took her cardigan back and prepared for the chilly walk down the path.

It was colder than she was expecting, which really was to be expected given that it was past midnight and December, but apparently Lizzie's brain wasn't quite getting there with figuring that out.

"Cold?" Ernie smirked at her as they stepped outside.

"Shut up," she mumbled, pulling her cardigan closer to her.

The walk down the path felt like it took an age, but finally they were beyond the apparition barriers and were able to apparate home: Lizzie with their mother and Ernie with their father.

When they got back into their home Minky was waiting to take any orders they might have.

"Sophia and I will have coffee in the drawing room, Minky," their father said, "Elizabeth and Ernest, off you both go to bed."

"Yes, father, goodnight," they both said, before walking up the stairs to their bedrooms.

"You did honestly enjoy the party didn't you?" Lizzie asked, still slightly worried about the fact that he'd been stuck with Draco for so long.

"Yes, Lizzie, I did, stop worrying," Ernie said with a laugh.

"Okay good," she smiled, and stopped at her door, "goodnight anyway."

"Night, you, and Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Lizzie let herself into her room and collapsed on her bed. It had been a good party, even if Pansy had been around for part of it. But no matter, Ernie had enjoyed himself and seemed to get on with Blaise and Draco okay; that was the main thing.


	33. Chapter 33

Lizzie awoke on Christmas morning a little after 10 to Minky gently shaking her arm.

"Please, Miss Lizzie, breakfast is in the dining room."

Lizzie rubbed her eyes and sat up, yawning slightly, "thank you, Minky."

"That's alright, miss," and Minky disapparated.

Lizzie swung her legs out of bed and yawned again. She hadn't thought they'd had a particularly late night but obviously the fact that it was later than normal was catching up with her. Grabbing her dressing gown, she hurried downstairs. If Minky had been sent to get her then that meant her parents had been waiting for at least 10 minutes, and they did not like to wait.

"Sorry, I only woke up when Minky came to get me," she said, hurrying into the dining room and kissing both her parents on their cheeks. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," they echoed back.

"Would you please sit down now so we can eat?" Ernie said, grinning at her.

"Ernest!" their mother scolded.

"Yeah, Ernest," Lizzie stuck her tongue out at her brother.

"Elizabeth!" it was Lizzie's turn to be scolded.

"Sorry," they both murmured.

"Your brother is right though," their mother began, "if you could sit down it would be appreciated."

Lizzie pulled out her chair and sat on it, having to shuffle herself into the table so she didn't have to reach too far for her food.

"Did you both have a good time last night?" their father asked as they tucked into their breakfast: a light meal of fruit and pancakes so they weren't too hungry before Christmas dinner but weren't too full to enjoy it.

"I did," Lizzie replied in between mouthfuls of watermelon.

"As did I, thank you for letting us accompany you both," Ernie agreed.

Lizzie rolled her eyes; he was always so prim and proper when speaking to their parents.

"How is your friendship with Draco?" this question was directed as Lizzie.

"We still get on well," she said through gritted teeth. Breakfast on Christmas day was not the best time to have to answer questions about a non-existent relationship with her friend.

"I was able to begin getting to know him," Ernie piped up, apparently trying to help Lizzie.

"That's good, if you can both have a strong friendship with Draco then that would bode well for our family," their mother said, smiling at the two of them.

"Yes, friendships are good, but," their father began.

"But nothing, father, I'm not going to start dating Draco when I have no feelings for him," Lizzie interrupted.

Her father scowled at her for the interruption but she held his gaze.

"I mean it, I enjoy being his friend and that's difficult enough at times."

Her father sighed, "if you must only be his friend that I suppose that will just have to do."

Lizzie blinked. Had she just successfully won an argument with her father?

"Thank you," she said, feeling fairly stunned.

Her father nodded and returned to his breakfast.

Lizzie caught Ernie's eye and he raised his eyebrows at her, silently asking if she had just managed to shut their father up on the subject. She did the same back in silent agreement of his question, frowning slightly to show her confusion.

"Have you heard from your mother today?" their mother asked their father.

"No, but I highly doubt she'll drop in," he replied, barely looking up.

Their father's mother was slightly distant from their little family. In fact, slightly was an understatement. Lizzie wasn't sure if she could even remember having ever met her. She and Ernie never even got birthday cards from her but their father would still get one, and in it she would ask how they both were (much to the amusement of the family). Every few years she would send a Christmas card, but they hadn't had one for the past two years.

"I thought maybe now they're both at Hogwarts she might take an interest."

"Not likely, my mother isn't interested in a lot."

Lizzie hadn't heard many good stories about her whilst growing up. From what she had gathered, she was a self-obsessed woman who didn't care much about anything beyond potions. Ernie thought he had found her mentioned in potions magazine he'd picked up from a stack in a shop once out of boredom.

"Still, it would be nice if she would at least talk to you more regularly."

"I don't mind, I can't stand her most of the time."

Their father had moved out almost immediately after he left Hogwarts. Despite how much Lizzie clashed with her parents, she knew it was nothing compared to him and his mother.

"You shouldn't think like that, dear."

"She sends the kids Christmas cards every few years, she ignores the fact that you exist, and I get a birthday card each year. That's it for communication."

He returned to looking at that day's edition of the Daily Prophet, and their mother sighed. The argument happened every Christmas, and birthday, and randomly throughout the year in the lead up to birthdays and Christmases.

Breakfast passed in silence after that, the only noises being the clink of cutlery against crockery.

"Thank you, Minky," their mother said before turning to the family. "Shall we meet in the living room at 2 to exchange presents before we eat?"

"Okay," Lizzie replied, pushing her chair out.

She heard Ernie agree and the scrape of his chair. They walked out of the dining room together and up to the landing on which both their rooms were located in silence.

"Do you ever get fed up of hearing the same fight?" Ernie asked.

"Every time they have it."

"What do you think of father's mother?" They weren't close enough to her to call her grandmother or any other variation.

"I think there's no point in talking about someone who never comes around," Lizzie smiled at her brother so he didn't think she was snapping. "We never see her and she never writes, I don't even feel related to her."

"I know what you mean, it's just so much of the year seems to be spent talking about her."

"Pretty much."

They walked passed Lizzie's room and continued on to Ernie's for their traditional present exchange. Lizzie couldn't quite remember when this had begun, but she just knew that every year after breakfast they would go to Ernie's room and exchange the main present they had got one another.

They still exchanged presents in front of their parents of course, but the presents would normally be things they may not approve of, like a book on cooking for Ernie, or a book on the history of the dark arts for Lizzie (Ernie's present to her when they were 8, she wasn't entirely sure how to feel about it even now).

"Okay, so with us being at Hogwarts I didn't have a lot of time to find anything, but here goes," and Ernie passed her a small package wrapped in brown paper.

Lizzie unwrapped it and a small box fell out. She opened the box and saw a little silver necklace with an oval shaped locket.

"Open it," he said when she looked at him in confusion.

She popped the little clasp and opened the oval, which to her shock grew to about the size of her hand.

"I asked Cedric to put a charm on it so when it's closed it's small, and when it's open it's bigger."

"Ernie, this is amazing!" Inside the locket was a picture of the Hufflepuffs in their year, they were all laughing, even Zacharias. "Mine's shit compared to this," she laughed.

"Probably," Ernie grinned, "but you deserve this after all the pressure mum and dad have put on you to be with Draco instead of making other friends."

"Thank you," Lizzie said, feeling a touch of wetness in her eyes as though she was about to cry.

"Now where's my present?" Ernie laughed.

"Alright, alright! I put it in your bedside drawer." She always snuck into his room during the afternoon on Christmas Eve to hide it.

Ernie reached over and opened the drawer, pulling out a book shaped package. This one was wrapped in purple velvet.

"I was more prepared and did an owl order," Lizzie smiled at him.

He untied the yellow ribbon that was holding the purple fabric together and the present was revealed.

"Lizzie! That's amazing," Ernie couldn't stop staring at the book in his lap; she had found him a book on the history of the four founders of Hogwarts.

"I'm just skilled, I guess," she grinned at her twin.

"How did you find this? I didn't even know this existed."

"Hermione put me onto it, I told her I wanted to get you a book but wasn't sure what one."

"I still can't get over the fact that you're friends with Hermione and Draco."

"Neither can Hermione, and Draco doesn't know."

"That'll explain it."

"Tell me about it," Lizzie rolled her eyes. "I don't even want to imagine how he'd react."

Ernie frowned, "shit, he would explode wouldn't he."

"Without a doubt," Lizzie answered with a grimace. "Although it's not like I'll make them talk or anything, he'd just still have a real issue with it."

"Do you think his blood prejudices would come out?" Ernie asked, concern filling his voice.

"Honestly, no idea. I can't tell how much of it is just from his parents and how much is genuine beliefs, but I can imagine with Hermione he wouldn't hold back."

Now Lizzie was actually thinking about it, this could cause a real issue between her and Draco, mostly because she wouldn't stop being friends with Hermione if he asked her to.

"How long do you reckon you can get away with it for?" Ernie grinned.

Lizzie shoved him lightly, "shut up, I'll probably be found out by the end of the year."

"Want to make that statement a bit more interesting?"

"I'm not putting money on it," Lizzie laughed.

"Spoil sport," Ernie stuck his tongue out at her.

"And on that note," Lizzie laughed and stood up, "I'm going to go get dressed."

"Alright, see you later."

"Bye," Lizzie shut Ernie's door behind her and walked back to her room.

She was greeted by a gentle hooting coming from her desk.

"Oh, hello Bubo," Lizzie said to Draco's owl, who was sticking his leg out.

She took the letter and chucked a few owl treats onto her desk for him to eat, dropping her present from Ernie on her bedside table and jumping onto her bed.

 _Merry Christmas, Elizabeth!_

 _Hope you're having a good day so far, I just wanted to send your present over so you could receive it on Christmas Day._

 _Yours faithfully,_

 _Draco Malfoy_

A small parcel was attached and Lizzie opened it; inside was a small circular frame containing a photo of her and Draco from the party the night before. Lizzie smiled and placed it by Ernie's present on her bedside table.

Moving back over to her desk, she pulled a fresh sheet of parchment off the top of a pile and wrote her reply.

 _Merry Christmas to you too, Draco!_

 _I am having a good day, thank you, and hope you are too. Thank you for my present, it's lovely. I'm sending yours back with Bubo._

 _Love,_

 _Elizabeth_

She folded the note in half and gave it to Bubo, "one second, I need to give you his present as well."

Rumaging in her desk drawer, she pulled out a parcel roughly the same size as the one she'd given to Ernie (mostly because it was another book, _The History of the Discovery of Potions_ ).

"Are you going to be okay carrying this?" she asked Bubo, who hooted gently in response. Taking that as a yes she gave him the parcel and watched him fly back out of the window.

Flopping back on her bed, Lizzie considered what she would wear that day. Something red or green maybe, with it being Christmas and all. She didn't feel like wearing a dress, so jeans and a top would do. That would mean she would have to find a nice top, and she still wasn't sure what classed as a nice top.

Dragging herself back up and over to her wardrobe, Lizzie quickly changed into a pair of jeans and grabbed a flowy red top. It was simple but red and looked fairly nice; it would do.

As the clock chimed 2, Lizzie walked into the living room to only be greeted by Ernie.

"I thought we were all meeting here?" she asked, plopping down on a sofa.

"Mother's checking on the food, father's replying to an owl," Ernie replied.

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "chuck us a chocolate frog?"

Ernie reached into the bowl by him and threw her one, "can I have the card?" He collected them, Lizzie had never really bothered.

She opened the pack and bit the head off before checking the card, "Do you need another Merlin? You've already got at least 17."

"I might as well, you never know when you might need to swap or something."

Lizzie looked at her twin with disbelief.

"Well someone might want 16 Merlin cards."

She held up her hands, "alright, alright, whatever you want," and frizbeed the card over to him.

Unfortunately for her, it went straight past him and dropped to the floor just as their parents walked into the room.

"Elizabeth, please don't throw things," their father scolded.

"Sorry, father," she said, getting up and collecting the card, which she then passed to Ernie.

They spent the next half hour exchanging presents. They didn't have the biggest family so there weren't many to open from other people, and Ernie and Lizzie had already done a present swap with their friends at Hogwarts.

Lizzie had been given a few new tops and skirts from their parents, whereas Ernie had received a couple of books. She managed to not scream too much at the fact that they were basically trying to pretty her up, and had to admit, the clothes were very nice and it meant that she didn't have to buy any more herself and so could spend her pocket money on books.

Ernie and Lizzie had banded together for their parents' presents, and given their father a new set of robes for work, and their mother a set of earrings and a necklace. Their father had given their mother a new dress, and she had given him a new watch.

After the present swap they made their way into the dining room for Christmas dinner. The actual smell of the food made Lizzie incredibly happy; she loved Christmas dinner.

The table wasn't that full, with it being a big table and them being a small family, there wasn't the need for it to be filled to the brim with plates.

Lizzie's mother seemed to be thinking the same way.

"Do you ever think we should we should invite anyone else to Christmas dinner? The table always feels very empty."

"Who would we invite?" Ernie asked, taking his seat and waiting for the go ahead to fill his plate.

"I don't really know, I just think we should one day," their mother replied, also sitting down.

"Maybe, if we ever have cause to," their father said, "Elizabeth, please sit down so we can eat.

Lizzie was halfway through the process of pulling out her chair at this point and rolled her eyes, "yes, father."

"Don't roll your eyes at me."

"Sorry, father."

'It's Christmas Day,' she thought. 'It's not worth the argument, just get through one day.'

Once they had all sat down, their father gave the go ahead and they began to pass the various plates around. Lizzie and Ernie pretty much balanced one another out with their dinners; Ernie loved piling on the vegetables and Lizzie preferred the pigs in blankets, and turkey. They each had some meat and vegetables respectively, but overall their meals could have been made in 2 well balanced meals.

Dinner passed in silence, as it so often did. Lizzie missed dinners at Hogwarts, which were noisy and loud, and just much more pleasant in general. Scratch that, Lizzie missed Hogwarts.


	34. Chapter 34

Ernie and Lizzie arrived back at Hogwarts the day before term started again, sharing a compartment with Justin and Zacharias as they had done on the journey home. It was lovely to see the other boys again, even Zacharias. They spent the train ride swapping stories of their holidays and wondering what Christmas at Hogwarts had been like for Susan and Hannah.

Draco stuck his head in to their compartment about an hour into the journey to ask Lizzie if she wanted to do something that evening, but she said she wanted to spend the time catching up with the girls before they got swamped with work. He looked a bit dejected at that.

The rest of the journey passed relatively peacefully, or as peacefully as it can be with the odd game of exploding snap. A couple of people looked in to make brief small talk, but otherwise the first years were just left to themselves (the boys in their card game, Lizzie with her book).

"Lizzie!"

Lizzie had taken three steps into the common room when she was tackled by Susan, followed by Hannah, who had had to pause due to the amount she was laughing at Susan.

"Hi, Susan, can you let me go?" Lizzie choked about between laughs.

Susan let go, and moved on to tackle the boys as Lizzie got her chance to hug Hannah.

"Hey, how was Christmas here?"

"It was good," Hannah replied, "but we missed you guys quite a bit."

Lizzie looked over to where Susan was chattering away to the boys and smiled fondly.

"We missed you guys too."

Hannah smiled, "how was your Christmas?"

Lizzie grimaced.

"That good?"

She snorted in response, "something like that".

After they'd had their hugs and said they're hellos, they sat in front of the fire and finally had their catch up.

Lizzie and Ernie's Christmas, despite being together, had been fairly different as Lizzie then discovered. Whilst her's had been full of tension and stress, he had found it fairly relaxing. She laughed at bit at that, everyone did. It wasn't like he was oblivious to the stress their parents had put Lizzie under; he just didn't have to deal with it.

Justin's was fairly standard. They had family round, all opened presents together after lunch, and either played charades or napped after that. Zacharias had to ask what charades was at this point, much to everyone's dismay and amazement.

In comparison, Zacharias' Christmas was much more similar to Ernie and Lizzie's: big meal as a family, seeing other wizarding families over the course of the few weeks.

Hannah and Susan had the best time, in Lizzie's opinion. Hogwarts had been fairly quiet but it just meant they had free reign over more of the castle than usual, and less people to nearly walk into whilst going from place to place. On top of that, they had a good amount of snow, and the Christmas roast sounded divine: a hundred fat, roast turkeys, mountains of roast and boiled potatoes, platter of fat chipolatas, tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce. Lizzie made a mental note to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas next year.

"Dumbledore ended up with a flowered bonnet from the crackers," Hannah was saying.

"I think he swapped it with someone, but it looked quite nice on him," Susan finished.

"Your Christmas sounds like it was better than mine," Justin said, looking pretty down about it.

"Justin, don't be stupid, it was just different to yours, and we didn't get to see our families at all," Susan said, poking his cheek with her finger.

"That's true," Justin shrugged.

"I'll take the lack of family," Lizzie grinned, "sounds pretty great to me."

They all laughed, even Ernie for a few seconds until he realised that he classed as Lizzie's family and gave a shout. This, of course, made them all laugh harder than ever.

"Did you see much of Draco over the holidays?" Susan asked. The girls were in their dormitory by this time and having a private catch up before bed.

"A little, why are you giving me that look?" Lizzie replied, rolling her eyes at Susan.

"Can you two just admit you have feelings for each other?"

"No, because there aren't any feelings other than ones of friendship."

"Did you really just say that?" Hannah said, staring at Lizzie in disbelief.

"See! Hannah knows!" Susan said, a triumphant grin on her face.

"So, Hannah is judging Lizzie for saying the words 'other than ones of friendship'" Hannah grinned at them both.

"But do you agree there are feelings that should be admitted?" Susan pressed.

"I think Lizzie is stubborn, and Draco sounds stubborn, and if they're in denial then they will be in denial for a very long time."

Lizzie threw her arms in the air in frustration, "unbelievable."

"You are stubborn," Hannah smiled.

"I am aware of that," Lizzie huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"At least you admit it."

"Whatever," Lizzie laughed, walking over to her bed.

"Lizzie?" Susan's voice called out to her across their (not very big) dormitory.

"Yeah?" Lizzie looked over at her as she pulled back her quilt, ready to get into bed.

"I'm glad you're back, it's been weird not having you in the room."

"I agree," Hannah said, moving over to her bed.

"Thanks," Lizzie said, feeling genuinely touched. "I reckon I'll stay here next Christmas."

"You think?"

"I can't hack my parents; I don't want to deal with it all over again."

"That's fair enough," Hannah said, and Susan nodded in agreement.

"What happened with presents?" Lizzie wondered aloud.

"They were at the foot of our bed when we woke up, ones from home and everything," Susan answered.

"So there really isn't any need to go home, you don't miss out on anything?"

"Apart from seeing family."

"I'll survive."

The girls all laughed. Lizzie had missed this; Ernie was great but the girls were, well, girls. They just connected on a whole other level to the way she and Ernie did, and that was mainly just a twin thing.

"Night, you guys," Hannah said, blowing out the candle by her bed.

"Night," Susan said, doing the same.

"Sleep well," Lizzie said, taking her turn to extinguish the candle and plunge the room in darkness.


	35. Chapter 35

Once term started, the first year Hufflepuffs fell back into a general routine: they'd wait for one another in the common room each morning to go to breakfast together; from there they'd go to their lessons; to lunch; to lessons; drop their bags in their separate dormitories; to dinner; and then either work in the common room or library (although this depended on who had work they needed to do, or whether anyone could really be bothered).

Lizzie spent about half her evenings each week in the library. Between Cedric, Hermione, and any other bits of homework she didn't get done during the evenings spent with them, it was the easiest place to get stuff done. Apart from this she was either in their common room, dormitory, or spending time with Draco, but even this had become less frequent. Not for any particular reason that is, just due to life and homework and other things.

Occasionally Draco gate-crashed her library sessions with Cedric, but he'd always sit and do work too so that didn't bother her too much. However, it did bother her when she was with Hermione, he'd see them together and pull a face or go on a rant about it next time she was with him. After the second time he did that she told him he needed to mind his own business about who she spent her time with, and if he didn't like it then she didn't really care. It shut him up pretty quickly.

Ernie and Justin laughed when she told them, and Justin said he wished he'd seen the look on Draco's face when she put him down like that. In response she laughed as well; it had been pretty funny to see _the_ Draco Malfoy gape like a goldfish.

"I just can't get to grips with it though."

Lizzie was taking a walk round the castle with Neville, who was struggling in Transfiguration again.

"Neville, you've had one class on it, you'll get there."

"But what if I don't? We have exams at the end of the year that we need to pass to get into second year."

"Neville, you have the entire rest of the year, you will be fine," Lizzie laughed, coming to a stop and slumping down against the wall. They were round the corner from where Lizzie knew the Gryffindor common room to be, although she was pretty sure she wasn't meant to know that.

"I know," he moaned, plopping down next to her and leaning his head on her shoulder.

She rested the side of her head on top of his, and they stayed like this for a while, in a comfortable silence.

"I'm glad I have you as a friend," Neville said, breaking the silence.

"I'm glad I have you as a friend too," she replied. She meant it, Neville had a whole other perspective on life and it was refreshing to hear it.

"I don't feel like I have many friends," he said in a very small voice. Lizzie almost didn't hear him, it was so close to a whisper, or a whimper would be more accurate.

"Neville, I know that's not true."

"It is."

"Neville, I spend time with Hermione, remember? I know everyone in Gryffindor in your year thinks of you as their friend, and I know my year in Hufflepuff all think of you as their friend as well. I don't know the Ravenclaws well enough to know their opinions, and I know you don't care about the Slytherins. That's at least half our entire year who like you."

She felt Neville shrug.

"Don't shrug at me, you know I'm right."

She felt him giggle a bit, "thank you."

"Any time," and they lapsed into a comfortable silence again.

Lizzie didn't often spend time with just Neville, but it was really nice when she got the chance to, and it saddened her to know he thought that little of himself, but knew the Slytherin's tended to bully him a fair bit. She didn't like that it happened, and it was one of the more common arguments she and Draco had.

"Elizabeth!" well, apparently if you think about someone they just appear, and she felt Neville tense slightly next to her at the sound of Draco's voice.

"Hi, Draco," she replied, her voice cool, silently warning him not to try anything against Neville.

"Longbottom," he nodded at Neville, who jerkily nodded back.

"Elizabeth, are you free?" He asked, now seemingly ignoring the fact that Neville was next to her.

"Not really," she frowned at him.

"Longbottom, can you leave?" he asked. "Please," he added, seeing the glare Lizzie sent his way.

"Ummm, I can, I guess," Neville said, going to stand.

"Neville, you don't have to," Lizzie said, standing up. "Draco, I'm busy spending time with Neville, can you not see that?"

By this point they were all standing; Neville fidgeting with his jumper cuff and looking frightened, Lizzie glaring at Draco, and Draco standing with his hands in his pockets, looking completely chilled.

"But I want to spend time with you."

"But I'm busy," Lizzie said through gritted teeth. She knew he was just doing this to rile her up, that he would piss her off as much as he could before apologising and leaving them alone.

"Fine, Neville, can you help me practise this spell?"

"What?" Neville looked as shocked as Lizzie felt as that sentence.

"I need to practise a spell, can you help?"

Lizzie looked at Draco with complete distrust, "what spell?"

"Just a simple little charm."

"What charm?"

"Well I would tell you, but you didn't want to spend the time with me to help, so I'll only tell Neville."

"Draco, you're being a child."

"It's okay, Lizzie," Neville said, "I'll help Draco."

She met his gaze, he looked slightly frightened but also brave; that was why he was in Gryffidor.

"Thanks, _Locomotor Mortis_ ," Draco said, pointing his wand at Neville.

There was a flash of purple light, and Neville's legs jumped together, causing him to topple onto the floor.

Draco started to laugh, and Lizzie bent down to help Neville back up.

"Thanks, Longbottom, just wanted to make sure I could do it right."

"Fuck off, Malfoy," Lizzie spat at him.

His laughter stopped, "Elizabeth, I only meant it as a joke."

"Well it's not funny, piss off back to your common room."

"Elizabeth," he made to step forward and she pulled her wand on him.

"I mean it."

He looked at the pair of them, shoved his hands back into his pockets, and slouched off down the corridor.

"What did he do to me?" Neville whispered, genuine fear filling his voice.

Lizzie ran a hand through her curls, "it's the Leg-Locker Curse, and I don't know the counter-curse."

"Hermione will, or someone else hopefully," Neville said, trying to stand and falling back down.

"I'll give you a hand to your common room, come on."

With some help from Lizzie, Neville managed to bunny hop his way to outside the portrait that hid the entrance to Gryffindor tower.

"You okay? I should go now."

"Yes, thank you, Lizzie."

"Anytime, I'll have a word with Draco if I can."

"You don't need to," Neville said, panic filling his eyes.

"Yes, I do," Lizzie replied, "be careful, okay? Don't fall over."

"I'll be careful," Neville smiled at her, and Lizzie headed back down the corridor so she didn't overhear the password.

Lizzie was crossing the entrance hall before she next saw anyone she knew.

"Lizzie, have you seen Draco?" Blaise was walking up the stairs that lead to the dungeons.

"Not since he cursed Neville in front of me about 10 minutes ago."

Blaise shook his head, "he's an idiot."

Lizzie raised her eyebrows at him, unsure whether he meant Neville or Draco.

"Draco, I mean, he's an idiot."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Lizzie scoffed.

Blaise laughed, "do you want me to pass a message on at all? When I find him."

"Not really."

"Really not happy with him, are you?"

"Not at all, no," Lizzie frowned.

"I'll tell him to leave you alone for a while."

Lizzie grinned at him, "thank you."

He nodded in response and walked past her, up the stairs to the upper corridors in an attempt to find his friend.

Lizzie continued her journey back down to the common room, and found Ernie reading on one of the sofas.

"What you reading?" she asked, sitting at the other end of it.

" _A History of Magic_ ," he said, not taking his eyes off of the page.

"Again?"

"Yes, again."

"Where's everyone else?"

"Library."

"Are you wanting to be left alone?"

"Don't care."

Lizzie sighed, leaning back against the cushions. She'd wait for him to talk to her; he would once he reached a good place to pause.

A couple of minutes later, or what felt like a couple of minutes because Lizzie had fallen asleep, Ernie nudged her.

"How's Neville?"

She grimaced, "Draco did the Leg-Locker Curse on him."

"What? When?"

"When I was with him, we had been happily chatting and then Draco rocked up, was being a bit of a dick, asked Neville if he could help him practise a spell, and did it."

"What did you do? Is Neville okay?"

"Yeah, we were only round the corner from the Gryffindor common room at the time so I helped him hop to the entrance."

At the look on Ernie's face Lizzie grimaced again, "I know I probably shouldn't know where it is, but I don't know their password or anything."

"You definitely shouldn't know where it is."

"Oh it'll be fine, it's not like I'm going to rob the place."

Ernie shook his head in disbelief at her.

"And I told Draco to fuck off," she finished answering his question.

"You what?!" Ernie spluttered, clearly pretty shocked at what she had just said.

"I told him to fuck off," Lizzie repeated, slower than before to give her brother a chance to process it.

"You told _Draco_ to fuck off… you?"

"Yes, me, why is that so hard to believe?"

"Because it's you, and it's Draco, and it's you."

Lizzie glared at him, "what's that supposed to mean?"

"You've always been so nice to him."

"Not always," she rolled her eyes, "I just put up with him more than other people would."

"True, how did he react?"

"I don't think he was best pleased," she laughed.

Ernie started laughing as well, "I'm not surprised."

"He just tried to act cool and slouched off, and then I saw Blaise on my way down and he's going to tell Draco to leave me alone for a while."

"I doubt he will though."

"What? Blaise?"

"No, Draco, he won't leave you alone and you know it."

"So I'll tell him to his face that he needs to."

"But he won't," Ernie smirked, "he'll miss you too much."

Lizzie rolled her eyes at that, "he can manage a few days without me."

"Can he though? Can he?"

"Just because you rely on me for everything doesn't mean that so does he."

Her brother scowled at her, "I do not."

"Whatever you say, brother dearest, whatever you say," Lizzie teased.


	36. Chapter 36

Surprisingly, Draco actually did try to leave Lizzie alone. For a day. Apparently a day was more than enough time for her to realise that he was only messing about with Neville and she should let it go… Needless to say, when he told her this she glared at him and walked away. Consequently, they hadn't spoken for a few weeks and Lizzie wasn't sure how she was feeling about it.

"Are you coming to the match?" Cedric grabbed the book Lizzie was reading out of her hands, earning a glare off of her.

"Yeah, I was planning on, can I have my book back?"

"Good, are you okay?"

"Fine, book?"

"No, you're not, when was the last time you spoke to Malfoy?"

Lizzie glared at him again, "can I just have my book back please?"

"Not until you talk to me."

"I'm fine," she said, holding her hand out for her book.

"Lizzie," Cedric raised his eyes at her, "you're not."

"Okay, so I'm not fine, but I'm dealing."

"If you're not fine then why aren't you talking to him?"

"Because Neville is my friend and I don't like how Draco treated him and justified it."

"Have you told him that?"

"Not in so many words."

Cedric chuckled, "if he doesn't know the issue then he can't help reach a solution."

"Well he should know the issue," Lizzie huffed, crossing her arms.

"Lizzie, men aren't mind readers."

"Contrary to popular belief," Justin perched on the arm of the chair.

"Exactly," Cedric grinned, "so come to the match."

"Come on, Lizzie," Justin piped up, "it'll be fun and we can watch Mark and Jack."

"Me and Dexter will come and sit with you guys," Cedric agreed.

Lizzie sighed, "fine, I'll come."

"Excellent," Cedric said, standing up. "I'll tell Dexter and we'll see you guys down there?"

"Sounds good, I'll make sure she still comes," Justin joked, and winced when Lizzie elbowed him in the side.

The first years met Dexter and Cedric in the common room before heading down to the Quidditch pitch and finding a seat in the stands.

"Any idea how Jack and Mark are feeling?" Ernie asked the group at large.

"Mark's alright, but nervous that Snape is refereeing," Hannah answered, not taking her eyes off her hands, where she was adjusting her bracelet through her gloves.

"Jack's much the same," Dexter shrugged. "There's not much either of them can do about it though so they're just sucking it up and going to play as usual."

"Why is Snape refereeing?" Ernie frowned.

"No idea, I guess he asked nicely or something."

The conversation continued about Snape (with negative things being said) and Lizzie relaxed back into her seat beside Cedric.

"How come you don't play Quidditch?" she asked, glancing out of the corner of her eye at him.

"I did last year," he explained, "but my parents got worried that it was affecting my work and made me have a year out."

Lizzie frowned, "was it affecting your work?"

Cedric shrugged, "I didn't think it was."

"So instead of letting you try again, they're making you have a year out to go back and play in a year when you have your O.W.L's?"

He laughed, "basically, but I have this year to make sure I can organise my time properly."

"Is that why you're helping me?"

"Part of it, if I can help you the same amount of time a week I would be playing Quidditch and keep my grades up then in theory I should be okay next year."

"In theory?"

"In theory," he grinned, "they're coming out on the pitch now."

He was right; the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams were walking onto the pitches, brooms over their shoulders, and lined up facing each other. Snape instructed the captains to shake hands, blew the whistle and they kicked off into the air.

"Snape doesn't look happy," Justin snorted.

"Wonder what happened," Susan said.

"Who cares?" Dexter laughed as one of the Weasley twins hit a bludger at him. Snape blew his whistle again, giving a penalty to Hufflepuff. Jack scored it and the Hufflepuffs erupted with applause.

"Any idea where the snitch is?" Ernie asked, his head frantically moving as he tried to scan the entire pitch all at once.

"I think Harry might have seen it," Lizzie replied, watching Harry go into a perfectly controlled dive, sending him past Snape with inches to spare.

"That's it, that's the game," Cedric said, looking a bit dejected.

Harry was rising back into the air, a look of triumph on his face and the snitch clutched tightly in his fist.

"That's got to be some kind of record," Dexter slumped his head into his hands.

"Must be," Cedric said.

"How much do you miss it right now?"

"You have no idea. Not that me playing would have helped."

"What position did you play?" Lizzie asked.

"Chaser with Jack."

"But," Dexter hinted.

Cedric glared at him, "But I'd love to play seeker if possible."

"He was the reserve seeker last year."

"We have reserves?" Ernie had joined the conversation.

"Not technically, I don't even know if any of the other teams have any," Dexter answered, looking to Cedric for confirmation.

"I don't think any of them do," he nodded.

"Want to grab some cakes from the kitchen for when Jack and Mark get back?"

"Sounds good, any of you want to come to the kitchens?"

"I didn't know we were able to get to the kitchens," Lizzie said, voicing the thoughts of the rest of the first years.

"Oh yeah, we're right by them," Cedric explained.

"What?"

"Our common room entrance is right by the entrance to the kitchens."

"How did you find it?" she said, absolutely amazed about it all.

"We were told by someone in an older year, it's basically a tradition for the first years to be made aware of it at some point," Dexter said, standing up. "And I am ready to get some cakes and goodies."

"Cakes and goodies?" Lizzie smirked at him.

"Yes, cakes and goodies, I have a way with words," he grinned back.

They were making their way through the entrance hall when Ernie tripped over his feet and fell flat on his face. The entire group started laughing, as was the natural reaction when someone tripped, but it was fine because Ernie rolled onto his back and also started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Draco asked, a scowl on his face when he caught up to the group.

"Ernie fell over," Lizzie answered.

"You're talking to me again," he grinned.

"Don't get used to it if you keep acting like that," she frowned at him.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked, tilting his head to the edge of the entrance hall.

Lizzie looked at the Hufflepuffs, "I'll meet you in the common room when you've got cake and goodies."

"Cake and goodies!" Dexter wooped, leading the group down the stairs.

Lizzie followed Draco out of the way of sea of people coming back into the castle.

"What do you want, Draco?" Lizzie asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"I want to say sorry."

She raised her eyebrows at him.

"I've been a dick, I know you're friends with Neville and I had no right to treat him the way I did in front of you."

She raised her eyebrows again.

"I shouldn't treat him that way in general."

"Better," a small smile was growing on Lizzie's face.

"I can't control who you're friends with and I shouldn't try to, even if I have issues with them myself."

"Thank you for apologising, Draco," Lizzie turned to go.

"Wait! That's it?"

"What more do you want me to say?"

"Say it's okay, hug me, and we go on a walk?"

She stared at him incredulously, "but it's not okay?"

"It's not?"

"No! Draco, what you did was not okay and I'm not going to tell you it was just so you can feel better about yourself."

He gaped at her for a second, before crossing his arms.

"Fine, whatever, goodbye," and with that he stormed across the entrance hall to the stairs that lead down to the dungeon and disappeared out of sight.

Lizzie sighed, shaking her head at him and walked back to her common room to eat cake and tell the group what had just happened.


	37. Chapter 37

Neville and Lizzie were working in the library as usual. Hermione was supposed to be joining them but she was attempting to get Ron and Harry to make revision timetables or something: Neville hadn't really understood what was going on, just that she would be arriving late.

He'd been telling her about the fight he and Ron got in with Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle at the Quidditch match, but Lizzie had zoned out somewhat at the mention of Draco. They still weren't really talking and he'd started being fairly rude to Ernie whenever they ran into each other, according to Ernie anyway and Lizzie knew he was prone to overreacting.

"Lizzie? You still with me?"

"What? Oh sorry, Neville, I was just thinking."

Neville frowned at her, "are you and Draco still not talking?"

"Nope, but then I don't know if I want to talk to someone who isn't going to accept that some things he does are wrong, you know?"

He sighed, "I know, and I hate him, but he makes you happy and you don't seem like yourself at the moment."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Stop pretending you are," Neville shut the book in front of him and sighed again. "Look, I hate the guy and I can't pretend I approve of your friendship with him, but you are good friends and he's a lot calmer when you're around."

Lizzie shrugged, "I guess, I just don't want to have to listen to him bitch about people I like and get on well with and then have him feel it's completely okay to do that."

"Have you actually told him that?"

That made Lizzie pause. She thought she had, she'd always assumed she had, but had she ever explicitly told him how awful it made her feel?

"I'm not really sure."

Neville nodded, "then maybe do that? And if he can't grasp that then you have a better idea of whether you want to stay friends with him."

"Thank you, Neville," she smiled at him.

"No problem," and he opened his book back up and went back to frowning at the page.

Lizzie looked down at the open book in front of her. The words were there, just weren't going in at all.

"Neville, I'm calling it a day."

"Can you call it a day if you didn't start?" he grinned at her.

She stuck out her tongue, "well I'm doing it anyway."

"Alright, I'll see you soon."

"Thank you."

Lizzie bundled her books into her bag and began the walk back to her common room. She assumed Ernie and Justin would be around somewhere, she knew Zacharias, Hannah, and Susan were in another part of the library and briefly considered stopping by to see how they were getting on.

Stumbling in her walk, right in front of some sixth or seventh years (they just looked older than her but she couldn't tell how much older), her feet fumbled for a few seconds and she changed course to walk back into the library, peering around bookshelves and keeping an ear out for her friends.

"Lizzie!"

She tripped slightly at the shock of hearing her name, and the chuckle that followed it. Turning towards the sound, she saw Zacharias bent double with laughter, Susan trying not to laugh, and Hannah almost hitting the table trying to laugh quietly so as not to get kicked out by Madam Pince.

"You made me jump!" Lizzie said, walking over to their table.

None of them could get enough breath in to reply to her.

Lizzie dragged out one of the spare chairs and sat down in it, waiting for them all to shut up.

It took about 5 minutes.

"Sorry, Lizzie, it just looked so funny," Hannah wheezed.

"How come you've got your bag? I thought you were studying with Neville and Hermione?" Susan asked, apparently having got her breath back quicker than the other two.

"I couldn't focus on anything, I called it a day."

"Worrying about stuff with Draco?" Susan asked, a worried note in her voice.

"Something like that," Lizzie said, "I don't want to talk about it if that's okay."

Susan nodded, and returned to her work. Hannah did the same, but Zacharias looked at Lizzie, a frown on his face and concern visible. It was the most emotion she'd ever seen on his face.

"I'll see you guys back at the common room," she said. He nodded and went back to his work.

Lizzie managed to make her way out of the library this time – without being distracted or tripping up – and her feet began the habitual walk back to the common room, allowing her mind to wander.

She missed Draco, she couldn't deny it. However she was fully aware of why they weren't talking, and her feelings on the matter hadn't changed.

No, you were never going to have friends who all got along perfectly fine; there were bound to be people who didn't like each other but had you as a mutual friend in life. But Lizzie couldn't put up with the way he spoke about her friends and how he treated them, and then how he acted as though it was perfectly justifiable.

She knew Draco would never change how he behaved; it had been drilled into him by his father and was his entire childhood. She just wished he would understand why she hated it so much. But she doubted he ever would, and then was it worth the sheer emotional ache she was feeling with their not talking? Was it worth it when Draco would probably never actually understand her way of thinking towards the Gryffindors' and towards muggle-borns?

Lizzie wasn't sure if it was. She had to be honest with herself and they might just be too different to make a friendship work.


	38. Chapter 38

"Why are we being given this much homework?" Justin was grumbling for the third time that day.

It was the final week before the Easter holidays and the teachers were piling on the homework.

"I keep telling you," Ernie was saying (also for the third time that day), "the exams are less than 10 weeks away."

Lizzie rolled her eyes, although not for the third time that day, she'd been hearing the same thing from Hermione for about a month now. She made a mental note to never be in the same room as both Ernie and Hermione when exams were coming up; they were bad enough individually, she couldn't handle them both.

"But the holidays are soon, can't they let us off?" Justin whined.

"No, exams are coming up! They want to make sure we're as prepared as possible," Ernie said.

"I don't get why, it's not like they're proper exams," Zacharias said. Lizzie knew for a fact that he'd started revising a month ago though, so she wasn't sure why he was trying to act so chilled towards them.

"But… but…" Justin spluttered, and Lizzie linked her arm with his.

"I know, I know, but we can't really do anything about it, can we?" She said, smiling gently at him.

He sighed and shook his head, "no, but I like to complain."

"I know you do, and so do I but if I have to hear how far the exams are away any more times tonight I might have to shoot my brother."

"Hey!" Ernie exclaimed, apparently overhearing that comment.

"I don't want to, Ernie, I really don't, but stop reminding me how long until the exams start."

"Seconded," Justin said, putting his hand up.

"Precisely, now can we go and find Susan and Hannah? I want lunch."

They'd gone ahead straight after History of Magic – to avoid the homework conversation – and Lizzie was wishing she had joined them.

Thankfully, the boys all nodded, and they made their way down the corridor to the staircases that would take them down to the great hall.

"Lizzie," Justin muttered quietly to her, nudging her with their interlocked arms.

"Hmm?"

"Ummm," instead of responding he just gestured his head to the side and Lizzie looked up.

Draco was stood at the end of the corridor with Blaise Zabini and Adrian Pucey. Lizzie obviously knew Blaise quite well, but she'd never really spoken to Adrian; she didn't even think he and Draco spent that much time together.

Draco looked round and caught her eye. Some expression flickered over his face but it was gone so quickly that she didn't really have the chance to work out what it was. He turned on his heel almost immediately though and walked away, as though being near her was the worst idea in the world.

Lizzie stumbled ever so slightly, more out of shock from such a cold reception than anything, and then wondered why. It wasn't like she and Draco were talking, and he was one of the biggest drama queens she knew: of course, he was going to act like that.

"Lizzie?" a new voice brought her out of her thoughts. Blaise was standing in front of her, a frown on his face.

"Yep, hi, that's me," she said, trying to force a smile on her face.

Justin gave her arm a squeeze and unlinked them, walking away to give her the chance to speak to Blaise in private.

"He's a total mess, if that helps," Blaise said.

"What?"

"Draco, he's a total mess. He misses you but he's too stubborn to admit that."

"That's not the issue, it's the fact that he won't admit he was wrong to treat my friends that way."

"I think he knows that, honestly," he said in response to the look on her face that the idea of Draco knowing he was wrong. "I just don't think he's willing to let himself admit to being wrong."

"Well he needs to."

Blaise laughed, "you're as stubborn as he is."

She pouted, which only made him laugh more.

"You miss him too, huh?"

She sighed, "of course I do."

"Would you give him another chance? If he asked for one."

"He'd need to apologise first."

"Obviously," Blaise nodded.

"But yeah, I'd be willing to give him another chance."

"Can I tell him that?"

Lizzie thought for a minute.

"It'll help convince him to stop being a dick and actually try and win you back."

She spluttered, "win me back? You make it sound like we were dating or something."

Blaise rolled his eyes, "okay, bad choice of words, but you know what I mean."

Then he added as an afterthought, "although, I reckon you both need to admit there are feelings there."

Lizzie felt herself grow red, "no, not on my part there aren't.

"So why are you blushing?" he teased.

"Because of the very idea of it, just, no!"

"Sure, sure," Blaise winked at her.

"Don't make me hex you, Zabini."

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry." He held up his hands as a sign of peace. "I'll talk to him though."

"Thank you."

They stood in silence for a minute, only for it to be broken by Lizzie's stomach rumbling.

"Hungry?"

"Starving," she grinned.

"Shall we?" Blaise offered her his arm, and she linked hers' with it.

"Blaise?" she asked, as they started walking to the great hall.

"Yep?"

"Since when does Draco hang out with Adrian Pucey?"

"Since he lost you as a study buddy."

"Really?" she said in surprise, "what about you?"

"I think he was hoping it would make me jealous, I can't stand Adrian."

"Why not?"

"Bad vibe, couldn't tell you what though."

Lizzie nodded in understanding.

"And has it?" she asked.

"Has it what?"

"Made you jealous?" she grinned at him.

Blaise scowled, "maybe a little. It means I don't want to join him when they're studying."

"Like you used to do with us?"

"Exactly! Part of me thinks he did it to try and get me to solve things between you."

"Sounds like something he would do."

"Well it didn't work, I just started hanging out with Pansy more."

Lizzie pulled a face at the name and Blaise laughed at her.

"What? Don't you like her?"

"She's horrid to me, I'm not going to be nice to her."

"Valid reasoning there, very valid reasoning."

They were just coming down the staircase that would deposit them in the entrance hall when another voice rang out.

"Blaise!"

They both looked down to see Adrian Pucey waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

"What?" he said, looking vaguely irritated by Adrian's presence.

"Draco says you need to go and speak to him, now," he replied, his eyes flicking onto Lizzie.

"Wow, I wonder what about," Blaise said, elbowing her in the side.

"Have fun, I'm finally getting some food," she grinned.

"It's going to be thrilling, I promise." Blaise's voice dripped with sarcasm. "I'll see you around though," he said, pulling her into a hug.

"Definitely, see you soon," Lizzie said, hugging him back before wandering into the great hall to finally eat.

Nobody even gave her the chance to sit down before information was being demanded of her.

"What did he want?"

"Are you okay?"

"Was it about Malfoy?"

"Of course it was about Malfoy"

"Well did it go okay?"

"But are you okay?"

"Guys!" Lizzie said, "I am hungry, let me eat!"

They all settled into silence for a second, before going back to whatever conversation they had been having before. Lizzie zoned them out and loaded her plate with toad in the hole and mashed potatoes, before pouring gravy over the lot.

As she began to eat, she let her mind wander to the conversation she had just had with Blaise.

It was sweet that he'd come to talk to her, and useful to know that Draco did know he was wrong and missed her. Shame he was so stubborn, although she couldn't say much on that subject. Hopefully Draco would come and speak to her soon. She wouldn't make the first move. Nope, wasn't going to do it.

But, she could, maybe, if she hadn't heard from him by this time next week.

Maybe, she wasn't sure.

She'd give him time.


	39. Chapter 39

It hadn't quite been a week, but Draco still hadn't spoken to her. Lizzie would have been tempted to speak to him if she had actually had any time between all the bits of homework they'd been given in their lessons.

As she finished putting her books into her for another library session, she reflected that she hadn't even seen him all that much; even if she had wanted to, she couldn't have spoken to him. Although, that might well be the reason he hadn't spoken to her as well.

Lizzie shrugged and threw her bag over her shoulder, nearly knocking herself over when 5 or so books knocked into her hip.

A snigger caused her to look up, and glare in the direction of her twin brother, Ernie.

"What?"

"Was amusing that's all," he grinned at her. "Who are you going to the library with this time?"

"Hermione, from the sounds of it she'll with Ron and Harry as well."

Hermione had grabbed her at breakfast that morning and requested a study session, but apparently Ron and Harry were spending as much time in the library with her as they could in an attempt to get their homework done.

"Have you ever spoken to either one of them?" Ernie asked.

"Maybe once or twice in passing? I'm not really sure."

"That should be fun then."

"I'm going to study and do homework, not to make conversation," Lizzie stuck her tongue out at him.

"Alright, still, would be cool if you got to know them."

"Because he's Harry Potter?"

Ernie grinned, "obviously."

She rolled her eyes, "I'll see you later."

"Alright, bye."

Lizzie crawled through the tunnel that would lead her to the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room and allow her to get to the rest of the school. She had to admit, it would be cool to finally meet _the_ Harry Potter. But from the sounds of it, Hermione needed some helping revising (or at least someone to ask her questions so she could test herself), so Lizzie doubted she'd be able to have much conversation with the other two.

"I want to go outside," a voice came from behind a bookshelf as Lizzie wandered through the library attempting to find Hermione.

"I know, Ronald, but we have work to do," Lizzie heard Hermione reply and grinned.

"Hey," she said, rounding the corner into the groups' little section.

"Hey, Lizzie," Hermione smiled, "this is Ron and Harry." She gestured to each of them in turn.

"Hey," Lizzie raised a hand in greeting.

They both murmured a hello back before grimacing and returning to the work at hand.

Lizzie pulled a chair out from the table, seating herself beside Hermione, who immediately turned to her.

"How much work do you have to still do?"

"I can test you in a little while, I just need to finish this essay for Quirrell first."

A triumphant look appeared on Hermione's face, "excellent."

Lizzie pulled her Defence Against the Dark Arts books, parchment, quill, and ink out of her bag and got to work. She really didn't have all that much left to do but it was probably easier to get it done here (with Hermione ready to tell Ron and Harry off when they spoke) than in the common room.

After quickly rereading what she'd already written to catch her brain back up, Lizzie set about writing her conclusion. It was fairly simple, just a case of saying why hags weren't always thought of as pleasant company – a couple of students said Quirrell had only set the question because he had had a bad experience with one.

About 20 minutes later Lizzie set her quill down and turned to Hermione, "all finished, what do you want me to test you on?"

"Just review a couple of plants from Herbology, please. I've written down all the relevant information on this bit of parchment," she passed Lizzie about 5ft of parchment, neatly rolled up.

"Ummm, what?" Lizzie said, slightly taken aback by the sheer volume of information.

"It's easier than flicking through each individual chapter of the books."

"Hermione does that, why write the required information when you could write just a bit more," Harry said with a grin.

"Okay then," Lizzie glanced at the boys and back at Hermione, unrolling the parchment to make a start.

"What can dittany cure?" she asked, still in a state of shock from the work Hermione had put into this, but then she supposed she shouldn't be surprised.

"As well as wounds caused by splinching when apparating, dittany can be applied to shallow wounds in order to heal them, and when mixed with silver it can cure werewolf bites."

Lizzie glanced over the notes in front of her, "yep."

"Did I get the exact answer?"

"What?"

"Is that the exact answer?"

"Yeah, Hermione does this. It's why we refuse to test her," Ron smirked.

Lizzie sighed, this was going to be a long day. "You said all the information that's on the parchment."

Hermione smiled, "good, next question."

"Describe a puffapod."

"A puffapod is a type of plant that produces large pink seedpods, which are full of shining beans and instantly flower when they come into contact with any solid object. It is thought that trolls are allergic to the plant as they seem to sneeze whenever near one."

Lizzie nodded, "how would you recognise a moly plant?"

"By its black stem and white flowers."

"And which potion is it used in?"

"The wiggenwield potion."

Lizzie nodded again, scanning the parchment for something else to ask.

"I'll never remember this" Ron suddenly burst out, making Lizzie jump.

"Just try," Hermione snapped at him, turning back to Lizzie with an expectant look on her face.

"Hagrid, what are you doing in the library?" Ron said again, causing all three of them to look round.

Lizzie had never properly met Hagrid before, but she had heard of him. She knew he was the gamekeeper of Hogwarts and lived in a hut by the Forbidden Forest, but that was it.

The man shuffled into view and Lizzie couldn't help but stare at the sheer size of him. He didn't look human sized that was for sure, but he didn't seem big enough to be anything else. She dismissed the thought from her mind.

"Jus' lookin', an' what're you lot up ter?" Hagrid asked, a suspicious look crossing his face. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

Lizzie shoot a questioning look at Hermione, but Hermione wasn't looking at her.

"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," Ron said, bragging it seemed although Lizzie couldn't understand why. " _And_ we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Philosopher's St-"

"Shhh!" Hagrid interrupted Ron, looking around to check whether anyone was there and his eyes fell on Lizzie.

"This is Lizzie, Hagrid, she's okay," Harry said quickly.

"Alrigh', alrigh', jus' don't go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?" Hagrid said, scowling at Ron, who had the decency to look sheepish.

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," Harry said, apparently not fazed by the fact that Lizzie clearly wasn't supposed to know whatever it was that they were talking about. "About what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy?"

Hagrid shushed them again, lowering his voice before he continued talking, "Listen – come an' see me later. I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin' mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren't s'pposed ter know." He glanced again at Lizzie. "They'll think I've told yeh."

"See you later, then," Harry said as way of a goodbye, and Hagrid shuffled away again.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" Hermione wondered aloud, before turning back to Lizzie and looking expectantly at the parchment.

"I'm going to see what section he was in," Ron announced, and wandered off into the bookshelves.

Harry looked at Lizzie, "confused?"

"Just a little, but I feel like I'd rather not have it all explained."

Hermione nodded, "probably for the best."

"Alright then," Lizzie's head hurt with all the random bits of information that she'd just learnt.

"Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone," Harry asked Hermione, who shrugged.

Ron came back in, a pile of books in his arms.

"Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look: _Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide_."

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon," Harry shrugged, "he told me so the first time I ever met him."

"But it's against our laws," Ron explained, "dragon-breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden – anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania. My brother," he added at the blank look on Lizzie's face.

"I thought there weren't any wild dragons in Britain?" she asked, just as confused as Ron seemed to be. "Or very few at least."

"There's Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks, but the Ministry of Magic had a job hushing those up as it is. Our lot have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."

"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" Hermione asked.

"Guess we'll find out later," Harry said.

They all went silent for a moment.

"I'm going to go, I think," Lizzie said, standing up. "I won't mention any of this, but it's all made my head hurt a bit."

"Alright," Ron said, turning back to his work.

Harry gave her a smile before doing the same, and Hermione nodded understandingly.

Lizzie packed all her books and bits away and shouldered her bag, feeling ready for a nap after all that had just happened. As she turned the corner to leave the library, she thought she caught a glimpse of bright blonde hair, like Draco's, but put it down to her imagination. She probably just missed him and was beginning to imagine things.


	40. Chapter 40

"I feel like you don't really need my help anymore?"

"What?" Lizzie looked up.

The Easter holidays had come and gone quicker than any of the first years had been expecting: they'd all been having to get through so much homework and revision that nobody had had the chance to relax. Anyway, now term had started again the revision and homework was continuing, and so Lizzie was in the library on a Saturday with Cedric.

"I mean, you've pretty much cracked it all now and can get your work done okay," Cedric smiled, "I feel like you don't need me anymore."

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "you're still my friend though aren't you?"

"Obviously, but I only started coming to the library with you to help you manage your work."

"Can't you continue coming to the library with me as my friend?" Lizzie gave a small smile.

"Course," he grinned at her, "it's just a weird feeling, it's like you've graduated or something."

Lizzie grimaced at that, "I'm only in my first year."

"You know what I mean."

She flicked a bit of paper at him, "unfortunately, yes I do. But you'll be graduating before me, Mr Diggory."

"Don't remind me."

"You've got 3 years left… why are you worrying already?"

"Because next year is my OWLs, and they start asking you what you want to be, and I don't know any of that stuff."

Lizzie smiled reassuringly at him, "you'll be fine, you've got a year to figure out what to tell them, and I'm sure they'll help you."

Cedric shrugged, "hopefully."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence as they continued with their homework, making conversation every so often to ask for a book or whether the other could move something ever so slightly. It was nice just to have someone there with you, instead of working alone in the library, even if they didn't speak much whilst they were there.

Lizzie turned her attention to Hermione's Herbology notes, which she'd borrowed to make a copy of. Hermione had agreed and updated Lizzie on the Hagrid situation – apparently, he'd won a dragon egg off a stranger in a pub and was planning to keep it… in his _wooden_ hut. Lizzie was still confused over it all but had promised not to tell anyone, and Hermione hadn't expanded on whatever the situation with that stone and Fluffy (whoever that was) was. Lizzie didn't really mind, she felt as though she'd rather not know.

The notes weren't half bad, she had to admit Hermione was good at this, but it felt like there was a lot of excess information. However, Lizzie wasn't going to take any chances and set about copying the entire lot.

She'd never realised how tiny Hermione's handwriting was either, there was just so much parchment and Hermione must have managed to get two lines written for every half inch.

Lizzie groaned internally, but set to work. It would be worth it if she could absolutely smash the end of year exams.

Two hours later she was still copying the notes. Cedric had left her a while ago, but she was determined to get them done before calling it a day, even if it meant staying in the library until curfew; she hoped it wouldn't, curfew was still a good four hours away.

She was vaguely aware of when people walked past her little table, and could hear the waves of people coming and going from the library. None of it distracted her though, that was until…

"Why did you do it?" A loud voice interrupted her, and she looked up to see Ron Weasley standing over her table, a pretty angry look on his face.

"Ron!" Hermione came up behind him.

"What did I do?" Lizzie asked, feeling pretty confused.

"Told Malfoy about Hagrid!" Ron glared at her.

Hermione shot her a sympathetic look, "Ron, I told you, she wouldn't do that."

"Why not? She's all buddy buddy with him."

"Me and Draco haven't spoken in weeks, so even though I wouldn't tell him, I haven't had the chance to since he won't speak to me."

Ron looked slightly taken aback.

Hermione glared at him, "I told you, she wouldn't tell him anyway."

"Sorry you have such a low opinion of me," Lizzie shot her own glare at Ron. "I don't know if you've noticed but I'm in Hufflepuff? We're sort of known for our loyalty to people. And yes, Draco is one of my friends, but we're not exactly talking so I don't have much loyalty to _him_ at the moment."

Ron looked down at his feet, "I didn't realise."

"Clearly."

"Sorry," he muttered, before shuffling away.

Hermione sighed, "I'm sorry about that."

"I understand, it's just shit. Draco found out that?" Lizzie asked.

"He was outside and looking through the one tiny gap in the curtains when Norbert hatched."

"Norbert?"

"That's what Hagrid named it."

"Is he seriously going to try and keep it?"

Hermione shook her head, "no, we've asked Ron's brother, Charlie, if he can take him. He works with dragons in Romania."

"That's good then, hopefully Draco won't do too much in the meantime."

"Hopefully," Hermione looked about as convinced as Lizzie felt; Draco would bide his time, but he'd probably do something.


End file.
